Forbidden Relations
by TheEntertainer26
Summary: Bellatrix's daughter meets Harry Potter at Hogwarts where fate affects their lives hugely, fate being Voldemort. Ch19 HP/LL? Hermione and Draco are in a hide-away and Harry's/Bellatrix's son has a heart condition, but will they both survive Lily's attack?
1. The Summer of 1976

A/N: This story is a response to one of Katja134's challenges, therefore the storyline belongs to her - I only hope I can write it! Please review and tell me what you think so far. Thank you!

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**Chapter 1**

It was a particularly warm summer at Hogwarts; the castle and its ground were bathed in a wondrous yellow light; a warm heat hung gently in the air, moved only by gentle, refreshing breezes; animals of all colours imaginable fluttered through the air and unkempt grass, the sunlight catching their wondrous colours and giving the grounds a glittered look. Lessons for the day had been cancelled, much to the student's relief, and many had chosen to abandon their black cloaks and lounge around the great lake, basking in the shade provided by immense trees with silvery leaves.

"I'm so glad the NEWTs are over – I can't stand studying!" exclaimed one girl, talking to her friend who was half listening whilst watching some younger students practise various spells.

"Yeah – but I don't know what I am going to do when school finishes…" replied this girl. Her name was Lilly Evans, and she was instantly recognisable to anyone whom met her. Her features were pale and perfect, and her face was adorned by soft, silvery hair, which fell loosely down her back. What made her most memorable, however, were her beautiful green eyes, which seemed pensive and distant at the same time to all who gazed into their depths.

"We'll travel! You know, go meet the enchanted mummies of Egypt, see the ancient duel place in Peru…" Lilly's friend was Bellatrix Lestrange, who looked mysterious and somewhat eerie. Although she wasn't nearly as memorable as her best friend, her long, straight, black hair, pale face and large dark eyes made anyone looking at her feel slightly uncomfortable: many thought she looked intimidating. However, Lilly seemed immune to this effect and was never far away from Bellatrix.

"My parents don't want me too – they want me to go to France with them," said Lilly, sighing heavily. Bellatrix laughed, and stood up.

"All muggles seem obsessed with France!" she said, to which Lilly smiled and nodded. "Anyway, let's go inside – I am burning!" Bellatrix said, even though she was the only person around to still be wearing her heavy, black robes. She and Lilly linked arms and began strolling back towards the towering Hogwarts, many other students looking at them because they both were in rival houses: Gryffindor and Slytherin.

"Take a picture – it'll last longer!" Bellatrix shouted at a group of terrified looking first years, who hastily turned away. She turned to Lilly and they both said "Kids!" in unison – their way of dismissing anyone who looked at them for any reason. "Speaking of kids, look who's coming this way!" said Bellatrix, pointing one of her black-painted fingernails at James Potter, who was striding towards Lilly.

"Leave him alone, Bella! He's not that bad anymore," said Lilly quietly, continuing to walk along the corridor.

"Oh GOD! You fancy him!" Bellatrix mocked, about to laugh.

"No I do – James! Hello!" Lilly exclaimed as James reached them and stopped in front of Lilly. Bellatrix turned away and pretended to gag, earning herself a playing slap from Lilly. "I'll meet you outside the library in a minute!" said Lilly, not taking her eyes off James. Bellatrix sighed and rambled towards the library. However, she stopped at the first flight of stairs she met, sitting on the bottom step watching Lilly and James talk awkwardly at the other end of the corridor. She grew bored quickly, however, and started using spells on a small spider on the step above her, making it dance around wildly and levitate randomly.

Soon enough, she heard Lilly's footsteps heading towards her and bolted up the staircase towards the library – she knew Lilly would hate it if she knew she had watched her and James. She dived onto a plush sofa in the middle of the hallway outside of the hallway and tried to look as if she hadn't just run up a large staircase, and by the time Lilly reached her, she thought she didn't look as red and breathless.

"You look slightly red – take off your robe!" Lilly said, tugging at one of Bellatrix's sleeves. However, she was having none of it and Lilly quickly gave up, knowing how stubborn Bellatrix could be.

"How was 'James' then?"

"He was fine, thank you!"

"You know you have his saliva on your cheek?" teased Bellatrix, stifling a giggle. Lilly went bright red and began to argue, but she knew Bellatrix would win.

She hastily changed the topic and they begun talking about where they wanted to live. Bellatrix's family owned an enormous mansion, and from what Lilly had heard, it wasn't very nice, perhaps the type of mansion that looked like it belonged to the Adams family. She had no wish to visit Bellatrix's home, however, as her whole family had been in Slytherin, and a Gryffindor would be as welcome in their house as an axe-wielding hockey mask-wearing murderer.

"We'd better get going to bed, anyway – it is already 9 o'clock and you know how strict the curfew is…" Lilly said. She had always been the type of person who hated breaking rules, and would never do something she was unsure of in case she got into any kind of trouble, much to Bellatrix's displeasure.

"Fine – I 'spose you're right. I might stay here a bit, though. I feel like setting someone on fire…"

"Bella! Good night," said Lilly, chuckling to herself as she knew Bellatrix was only joking (or at least she hoped she was). She turned around and started climbing the tiring staircases that led to the Gryffindor Common Room. She briefly looked into the Great Hall as she went passed it, and was slightly surprised to see the ceiling was full of grey, swirling clouds as opposed to the rays of sunlight it had been emitting earlier. However, she dismissed this and continued going to the Gryffindor Tower.

On the way up the final staircase, she heard voices coming from the floor above. She froze and listened very carefully, checking her watch and noticing she was out of bed half an hour after curfew.

"…can't continue like this, Albus, the students are in danger!" She recognised this voice as belonging to Professor McGonagal.

"You are right Minerva, and term will have to finish now. Times have changed, and we are no longer a harmonious magical community." This voice definitely belonged to Dumbledore, and the tone of his voice told Lilly that whatever was happening was very serious. The pair then started coming towards her, down the staircase, and she risked ducking down. They didn't see her and she ran up to her bed, ducking under the covers quickly as her other roommates were already sleeping.

No sooner was she beginning to feel sleepy than a voice echoed around the castle. "Students of Hogwarts. School has had to end now due to unforeseen circumstances. Please pack your belongings and make your way to the Great Hall where you will be escorted to the Hogwarts express. Your parents have been contacted."

Everyone in her room started gathering up their belongings in blind panic, whereas Lilly only had a few things to pack. She quickly made her way t the Great Hall and was in the first group of students to be escorted to the Hogwarts Express. To her relief, James was also in this group, but Bellatrix was absent. As she was seated in the front compartment, without choice of where to sit, she begun to worry about Bellatrix, but her thoughts quickly turned as she saw many flashes coming from the Hogwarts castle. The train started to move prematurely, with only 5 compartments filled. Lilly stood up and ran to a window, and saw Bellatrix in the middle of a group who had missed the train, banging on its sides helplessly.

"Bellatrix!" she shouted, pounding the window with her fists, but many other people in the train were doing the same, so her voice couldn't be heard above the racket. The train gained speed and the station faded into the distance, embroiled in flashes that had haunted the castle, and all Lilly could think about was if she would see Bellatrix again…


	2. Halloween Traditions

**A/N Sorry it took so long for me to update - I wrote chapter 2, but it got deleted, so I had to start again...I was also hoping for more reviews :) Thanks very much to Froffeexox and Katja134 for reviewing, and everyone else who has read it up to this point!**

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**Chapter 2**

5 years later…

Lilly was sitting in a large manor house somewhere in the sprawling English countryside, talking to one of her best friends – Alice Longbottom. Although it was the very end of October, there was a warm breeze blowing through the air, so Lilly and Alice went outside, taking their two baby sons with them.

"Wow! You have a lovely view," said Lilly politely, as they stepped outside onto the large patio that covered a lot of the vast garden.

"Not really – if you look over there, there is a huge motorway – I've charmed the house so we can hear it," Alice said, pointing into the near-distance. Lilly saw the motorway, running through the rural area like a twisted grey snake. A shiver ran down her spine as she thought of snakes, strangely, and she had to look away from it.

"Are you actually enjoying your time off work? Being an auror must be exhausting…" Lilly said. She had always been slightly jealous of Alice's job, as it sounded so exciting and exhilarating compared to staying at home doing nothing in particular.

"The order gives me plenty to do, actually!" Alice laughed, referring to the Order of the Phoenix.

"Naturally – I suspect you get harder tasks than the rest of us," Lilly said, finishing her coffee.

"Not really, but I can't tell you what I've been doing – you could be a Death Eater!" Alice said, making Lilly grimace and then giggle.

"Anyway – I'd better get going. James was meant to get home over an hour ago. He'll probably think I've been killed – you know what he's like," Lilly said, pulling on a violet cardigan and lifting Harry off the floor, holding the gurgling toddler in her arms.

"I'll see you soon – come round any time you like. Take care!" Alice said, as Lilly apparated on the spot.

Lilly reappeared on her doorstep in Godric's Hollow, in front of her well-kept cottage. Even though it hadn't been raining, there was a strong smell of damp earth hanging in the air, and the moonlight was illuminating everything perfectly.

She opened the door and called out James' name, but there was no answer. She started to panic: he should have been home ages ago. Had he got into trouble doing something for the order?

She ran up the stairs and put Harry in his cot. Leaving his door open, she ran around the whole of the upstairs, not knowing what she was really looking for. Suddenly, the door creaked open downstairs, making her jump, but then sigh with relief.

"James!" She called out, flinging herself down the stairs and wrapping her arms around her partner.

"Hello! Sorry I'm late – I had a meeting. Is everything ok here?" he asked, reading the worried look on Lilly's face.

"No – everything's fine!" she said hurriedly, looking at the time on the clock on the opposing wall. "Except I've forgotten Halloween again! I'll be back in five minutes – Harry is upstairs!" and with that, she ran out of the front door, grabbing her purse from the corridor tables as she went. She heard James go upstairs to see Harry, but didn't pause as she could already see trick-or-treaters rambling about the streets. She continued running wildly to the shop, which was just around the corner, when she tripped over, slamming her hands on the ground to stay somewhat upright. Several onlookers laughed, but she carried on

Upon coming out of the shop, she heard several sounds like gunshots, seconds apart, and several green flashes illuminate the indigo-streaked sky. That was one thing she hated about Halloween – people went to extreme lengths to scare each other. She paused outside the shop, then realised her check book was missing, although she knew where it was. With a sigh, she envisaged Alice's house and apparated there.

She found herself on the patio once again, and grabbed her chequebook, which as on a stone table. As she was about to apparate back home, she heard a gurgling sound from behind her, and as she turned around, she was confused to see her godson – Neville- playing alone on the grass, covered in dirt.

"What are you doing there?" she said, scooping Neville into her arms. "Where are Mummy and Daddy?" she said gently, stroking his soft hair. She looked towards the house, and started to go towards it when a shiver ran down her spine again, making her so cold she almost dropped Neville. She knew something wasn't right, so she raised her wand and made red sparks appear high in the sky, the universal wizard sign for help. Doing this would attract the attention of some ministry officials who should arrive almost instantly.

After several minutes, however, no one arrived, so she walked towards the house. She peered through one of the windows, and gasped in horror as she saw the unconscious form or Alice and Frank Longbottom lying on the floor, their pale faces illuminated by the eerie moonlight. She put her hand over Neville's eyes, and slowly stumbled backwards in shock. She raised her wand automatically again and sent more red sparks, and she apparated as a ministry official appeared.

Lilly arrived back on her doorstep holding Neville, and stepped inside the house, not registering the front door, which had been smashed open. A cracking sound behind her made her jump and she turned to see several Ministry officials standing in the narrow hallway.

"Please, ma'am, wait outside – do you live here?" asked one of them. She simply nodded, and reading the horrified looks on their faces, she thrust Neville into one of their arms and ran up the stairs, shouting 'James' and 'Harry'.

On the upstairs landing, there was a faint burning smell in the air, and she turned ghostly white as she saw the door to her bedroom had been disintegrated, the walls around it blackened. She slowly walked towards it, ministry officials running up the stairs to stop her, but she reached the room first.

The scene inside the bedroom was serenely calm, and the walls to the outside of the house had been blown away. Harry was in his cot, not moving, with a scar on his forehead, which had never been there before. She walked towards him and picked him up, and too her delight, his eyes opened and he started gurgling. She started crying in relief, but as she turned to see what was on the other side of her room, her cries turned to screams. She ran over to the corpse and started shaking it, hoping to wake it up. Nothing happened. A ministry official tore her away, and she collapsed to the floor before she could get out of the room…

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**A/N You know what to do now - review! Reviews motivate the author, and unless I know what you lot think, I can't improve :) Thanks very much. Next chapter will be up soon, for all of my alerters.  
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	3. Bellatrix's story

**Chapter 3**

On the night the school was attacked, Bellatrix was captured and tortured personally by Voldemort. The sight of Lilly leaving, banging the window with her fists broke her heart, but something snapped inside her during her torture. Her personality changed – she always had the potential to be dark, but had never before done anything serious. She figured the only way to stop the torture was to join Voldemort, become a Death Eater.

However, the more she got to know the Dark Lord, the more she fell in love with his murderous ways. Although she couldn't explain it, she always loved dark people – she loved to fear, but more than that, she loved to be feared, and that is what Voldemort could give her.

Whilst they were fighting together, Voldemort conjured up a memory of himself, of Tom Riddle, and gave it to Bellatrix as a present. They married almost immediately.

However, 5 years later, things had changed. Tom's dark way and melancholic life style had started to bother Bellatrix, and although she knew her husband was Voldemort, or at the very least, a part of Voldemort, she craved the real thing.

It was Halloween, and Voldemort had disappeared randomly, either because he didn't want to be found or because something bad had happened. Bellatrix's intuition told her it was the latter, and without knowing any real facts, she decided to go and find him, to tell him how she felt.

"I'm going out Tom – don't expect me back anytime soon," she shouted from the front door, just as she was about to slam it shut and bid the miserable Victorian Terrace farewell.

"Don't be ridiculous!" shouted Tom back from the living room. "You're nine months pregnant! I have to be with you at all times! Besides, I thought we could maybe have a romantic night in?"

"Sure honey!" shouted Bellatrix back in her mocking voice, walking to the kitchen. She picked up an abnormally big knife from the counter.

"Really?" shouted Tom back, sounding somewhat taken aback. Bellatrix entered the front room and stood in front of him, holding the knife behind her back with one hand. With the other hand, she gestured for him to stand up then gestured at him to kiss her. When he was close to her, however, she grabbed him by the ruff of his shirt and viciously pulled him forwards.

"No!" she whispered into his ear in reply to his question, and she jammed the knife as hard as she could into his chest. "Moron! Now, screw you, I'm off!" she said, smiling at the sight of Tom writhing on the floor in a pool of his own blood. She grabbed the hilt of the knife and twisted it round, making Tom scream out with excruciating pain.

"Love you – see you later –" she said, leaving the house, "- in hell," she added as she slammed the front door shut. As the sound rang out around the deserted street, Bellatrix's stomach lurched, and her baby kicked hard: she knew she was overdue, but wanted to put off the birth until she rejoiced with Voldemort.

"Not now, you brat!" she said, slapping her stomach. "Wait until I meet your _real_ father!" She felt the baby recoil, and then she walk lopsidedly down the street, laughing raucously.

After several hours of walking to nowhere in particular, she stopped in a small village. She had been walking mainly on county round, and had killed anyone in cars whom had asked if she wanted a lift. She knew she had to stop soon, as she could hear police sirens in the background, and thought this village would be the perfect place to rest.

In the air, she could smell magic and gunpowder, and her senses were excited as she realised that she was in Godric's Hollow, as Voldemort has said he would be here tonight.

However, before she could walk any further, she felt her trousers go wet – her waters had broken. She staggered down a deserted alleyway and within minutes, had painfully given birth, with the aid of magic to speed things up.

Bellatrix looked at her baby: it was a girl, with straight, black hair sticking up is wisps all over her head.

"What a ghastly creature!" Bellatrix exclaimed, holding the baby up with disgust. "Maybe you can be useful in convincing your father to come back to me!" Her mind flicked back to the night in which her daughter had been conceived: Voldemort had turned up from nowhere, however, the rest of the night was a blur.

Bellatrix wrapped the baby up in a spare robe, and carried her roughly, feeling no maternal feelings towards her child.

"Welcome to the world, Tara Lestrange!" Bellatrix sneered as she left the alleyway, Tara in her arms. Unusually, the baby was not making any sound – she was simply watching her mother intently, taking in her every action.

"Let's go find your daddy then!" Bellatrix laughed, but the baby still made no sound, even as the piercing sound of laughter reached its delicate ears.

Bellatrix turned a corner and her mouth opened in amazement as she found herself staring down the road at a large cottage, half of which had been destroyed, surrounded by many people casting complex spells. A person holding two small children stepped out of the cottage, looking completely dishevelled: she conjectured someone had been murdered, and knew it was the Dark Lord's handiwork.

There was something familiar about this person she had just seen step out, and it was bothering her – an unfamiliar feeling of guilt swept through her body.

She started to approach the cottage, and to her surprise, found no ministry officials trying to hold her back. These were the day when she was yet to become a well-known criminal; the days before her treachery had been uncovered. She reached a bush surrounding the cottage and stopped, checking to see if Tara was alright. She smiled as she saw Tara asleep in her arms, but shook her head to diminish her feelings of motherly love and compassion.

She realised how much pain she was in and leant against the bush, through which she could hear a ministry official or someone talking to the person who had stepped out of the house.

"You can't stay here – it is too dangerous. I will take you somewhere safe. Perhaps abroad," a male's voice said. There was no reply, but a shuffling of footsteps, and Bellatrix gasped when she saw the mystery people step out from behind the bush.

"Bella?" Lilly said as she saw her old school friend.

"No! We're going!" said the man escorting her, whom Bellatrix recognised as her cousin Sirius Black. They apparated on the spot just before Bellatrix reached them…

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**A/N A huge thanks to all of those who reviewed last chapter - it was nice to hear what you think so far! I hope you all enjoy this chapter: review to tell me what you think! I will try to update a bit sooner this time!**


	4. Wizard Training

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Chapter 4

"Come on Harry! You're doing fantastically!" shouted Lily encouragingly over the sound Harry's wand was making. "You too, Neville!" she added, looking at Neville, acknowledging the barely audible rasping sound his wand was spitting out.

"That'll do now! Finite Incantatum!" Lily said, extinguishing the sounds. She had been teaching Harry and Neville basic magic – she told anyone who questioned her that is was in preparation for Hogwarts, but she had ulterior motives: she knew one day that Harry would have to face Voldemort, and in her opinion, instead of skirting around the issue until Harry found out, it was better to prepare him early so the odds of the outcome of the fight would favour him. However, as she had chosen to bring Neville to France with herself, Harry and Sirius after James was killed, she thought it was only fair to teach him as well. In her view, Neville and Harry were both her children and she treated them equally.

"Before we go back, try the summoning charm again – you both did it very well earlier!" Lily had bought the boys to the French Alps to practice in a secluded area. After leaving England, Sirius had gone back to London to get the Ministry of Magic to grant Lily permission to teach Harry and Neville, and under the circumstances, they accepted. Lily watched wistfully as Harry skilfully summoned a small pebble and caught it gracefully, whereas Neville tried to summon a large stone, which shot towards him and hit him squarely on the nose, spraying blood everywhere.

"It's Ok Neville!" Lily shouted, running towards them. Neville wasn't crying, but had a look of utter confusion on his 11-year old face. "Espikey!" Lily said, healing the broken nose.

"Am I still covered in blood?" Neville asked slowly, gingerly touching his nose.

"Yes, but I'll get it off for you – Torego!" Harry said, siphoning the dried blood from Neville's face.

"Thanks Harry!" Neville said, rubbing his dry cheeks.

"We'd better head home now – Sirius will be worried about us, if he's back from work, that is!" Lily joked, making Harry and Neville chuckle. It was a hazy day in the middle of August and Lily knew this would be the last few weeks she had to spend with the boys, although Hogwarts had yet to send their acceptance letters.

It was a short walk back to their house – a small cottage situated in the middle of a meadow, untouched by muggles and 70 miles away from the nearest town. Sirius had to apparate to London everyday, going through many complex international apparition boarders to reach the Ministry of Magic.

"Ok now, you two, go add the spells you learnt to your magic journals quickly, especially you Neville," Lily said, ushering the boys into their miniscule shared bedroom. She would miss training them, but knew they needed top go to a school eventually, as they hardly ever saw anybody else. She walked past the corridor and had a sudden flashback of an eerie green light shooting down the stairs, the sounds of a baby screaming and a gunshot ricocheting off the thin walls. She remembered walking up the stairs lifelessly, fighting off countless ministry operatives, going to see the inevitable.

"Lily!" a voice suddenly shouted from the front door behind her. "Wake up! Are you alright?" Lily turned the round and felt her heart flood with relief as she saw James's figure standing impossibly in the door way.

Sirius rushed over to Lily and picked her up after checking she was still breathing. However, Lily began to wake up, and he thought he heard her moan as her walked her to her bed...

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"Tara! You stupid child! Is it really that hard for you to do this?" Bellatrix cursed for the thousandth time at her bedraggled child, who looked constantly terrified, yet somewhat dignified and serenely powerful.

"Sorry Mother, I wasn't concentrating," Tara sighed as he mother pulled her to her feet roughly.

"What do you think your father would say? Hm? Do you think he'll tell you 'never mind'?" spat Bellatrix at Tara in her horrible childish mocking voice. "Of course he won't! He'll torture you and end your miserable pathetic existence!" Tara had never actually met her father, nor did she know his name, but she had gathered he was some sort of dark wizard – little did she know that her vision of him was such an underestimation. "One more time now – aim and do it. Don't make me punish you again!" shouted Bellatrix. On the evening Voldemort had killed James, she had been unable to find him, and, assuming he'd cut her off unexplainably, she killed some muggles and took up residence in their home, scrounging whatever she could without money from others, torturing them until they gave in. She had been darkly intellectual and mysteriously beautiful once, but those days were gone. Now, her life filled with spite and overwhelming want for Voldemort, her mind was unstable and she looked a state: her long black hair hung behind her, unwashed and knotted, and her black robes hung off her skeletal figure in little more than rags. Fortunately, Tara took better care of her clothes, and often snuck out when her mother was asleep, getting enough food for herself wherever she could.

Tara scrunched hr eyes up in concentration. She knew her Mother would beat her or torture her if she couldn't do this spell, and therefore desperately wanted to get it right. "Crucio!" she said, aiming at a large, hairy spider set on a splintered table. She winced with guilt as she saw the spider curl up in pain, squirming around wildly.

"Yes! That's it!" Bellatrix said, her black eyes lighting up with lustrous evil as she saw her daughter learn spells she would need for herself to win back the Dark Lord's affection. "Let's see how Harry Potter likes that!" she muttered under her breath.

"Who's Harry Potter?" Tara asked. She had often heard Bellatrix say this name in her sleep, and every time, the name was drenched with contempt.

"_Who's Harry Potter_?" Bellatrix mocked, once again. "Insolent BRAT! How dare you ask questions! Get out of here!" Tara didn't need to be told twice, and scuttled out of the room, racing up the stairs whilst listening to Bellatrix take a heavy swig of vodka. Tara resented her Mother, and couldn't wait to start Hogwarts, where she could be independent. However, although she was unaware of Bellatrix's plan, she had started to take a great interest in the dark arts, and often dreamt about becoming a Death Eater – something her Mother had often talked about. Unbeknown to her, however, she was dark, as Bellatrix had only taught her evil, and spoke about Death Eaters and the Dark Arts like the best things in the world, glorifying them so Tara would one day take part in them. Tara had no morals: no concept of what was right or wrong, although she often felt guilt or sadness.

"I've had enough of this!" Tara whispered to herself as she got into her room. A spontaneous idea popped into her head, and as she couldn't wait to be independent, she acted on it immediately. Racing downstairs, she armed herself with her wand.

"What do you want?" Bellatrix asked, somewhat taken aback as Tara entered the living room.

"Shut up, you evil bitch!" Tara cried. "Crucio!" she said, making Bellatrix fall to the floor. She felt more powerful this time, probably because she really wanted to cause pain. "I leave today!" and with that, she slammed the front door shut for the last time...

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A/N Hello! Thanks very much for reading up to this point. Thank you very much for all of you who have read up to this point and a special thanks to all of you who reviewed - it was the recent reviews that made me write more! As usual, please review this chapter - I really want to know your views on it! Thank you!


	5. Lucky Signs

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A/N Inspired by getting quiote a lot of reviews, I wrote this chapter almost immediately: an immense thans to everyone who reviewed: froffeexox, VampirePrincessElvira, Mr Tump Kooniart, Rori Potter, xrazorxpies, Pikachuhunter and Francesca Lerwicz! I will update as soon as I get enough reviews, meaning if you want to read more, please review! Thank you, and I hope you enjoy chapter 5...

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Chapter 5

Tara ran down the street, willing herself to be taken away as far as possible from her hell-like dwelling. As she raced round the corner, her heart pummelling the inside of her chest, she heard Bellatrix screech her name, making her jump. She paused temporarily, but felt her eyes widen with fear and terror as she heard Bellatrix's heavy footsteps pounding after her.

"Come back here NOW! I'll kill you if you don't!" Bellatrix screamed in her rage, and sure enough, Tara saw the air around her illuminate with green light temporarily, with shouts of "Avada Kedava!" coming from behind her. She tripped over, and let out a cry of exasperation – this was hopeless: how was she going to escape her mad Mother?

She decided to keep pushing forward, and jumped up, her legs running automatically down random alleyways. All the time, she could hear Bellatrix cursing, but miraculously, none of the spells hit her.

Tara soon reached a main road, and found herself stuck: the only way to keep running was forward, across the busy motorway. She turned around and saw the furious face of Bellatrix emerging out of the alley, and, taking in he ghostly features contorted with rage and hatred, she started to cross it without looking. The only thing she heard when the white van hit her was the screeching of tyres and piercing laughter from someone who wanted her dead...

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"Hello? Can you hear me?"

"What?" Tara replied groggily. She felt as if she was awaking from a never-ending sleep, and struggled to move her arms and legs, which were lying on the bed, uselessly. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the kindly face of a female doctor, a name badge saying "Dr Edith" pinned on her white coat. "Where am I?"

"In London Hospital – you had quote an accident, but somehow, you are completely fine, although we had to give you painkillers so you could sleep painlessly," the doctor said, pressing some buttons on a heart monitor making it beep regularly. "I have to ask if there is anyone to contact, as you are only a child – you can go home now!" Tara shuddered as home was mentioned.

"Mum works on Thursdays," Tara said, making something up on the spot.

"My dear, you've been unconscious for 4 days! It's Sunday morning!" Tara realised it was the 31st of August, and glancing at a clock on her bedside, she saw the time: 9:30am. A plan formed in her head: today, she was meant to go to Hogwarts at 11am, and would need to get to the station quickly to get the train.

"My home phone number is 01245 864517," she said to the kindly doctor, who noted it down.

"I'll go and phone it now then – just sit back and rest for a bit, alright?" Dr Edith smiled sweetly and walked out the room. As soon as the heavy door closed, Tara yanked the wire out of her arm that was feeding her pain medication and pulled on her clothes, which she assumed had been removed as soon as she had been bought in. She slipped out of the door and crouched behind the desk at the nurses' station, where there were countless medical personal chatting mindlessly. A sudden thought crossed her mind: she had nothing apart from the cloths she was wearing and her wand, which was mercifully still in the back pocket of her jeans. Suddenly, she dived into a gift shop situated near the entrance, and pulled some random clothes off their hangers.

"Excuse me – can I help you?" a voice said from behind her, making her gasp. She didn't turn around but instead, bolted for the exit, clothes in arm, and immediately got lost on the busy London street. According to her limited knowledge, London Hospital was situated near King's Cross station, and sure enough, she saw a small sign post pointing down an extremely crowded road. In her opinion, the fact that it had been so easy for her to escape the hospital and the fact she was so close to King's Cross was a sign that she needed to go to Hogwarts.

"Hello, little girl! You appear to be lost – would you like me to give you a lift?" asked a kindly middle-aged man, sitting in an old car on the road, which Tara had been standing on the side of.

"No thanks – I am nearly there," she said, unable to keep the worry out of her voice.

"I insist – I can get you there quicker!" the man said, suddenly sounding nasty and stern. Tara ran away, pushing through the thick crowd of commuters, careful not to drop any of her possessions. It took her a while to get through the crowd to the other end of the street, and she had a feeling she only had minutes left to catch the elusive Hogwarts Express, however, looking up, she found herself at the entrance of the station, so she hurried inside.

She had never seen so many people crowded into such a small, poorly-ventilated space, and the humidity was almost unbearable. However, to her left, there was a stair case, which she raced up. Platform Five. She race up several more flights of stairs and found herself on platform Nine, unsure of how to get to Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Tara felt a wave of despair wash over her body: she was so close to escaping, but couldn't finish!

"Excuse me!" said a red-haired woman from behind her, pushing a heavy trolly filled with strange animals and bursting trunks. She was preceded by 4 boys and a small girl, who was clinging onto her arm.

"Come on then Fred and George! Get through there quickly!" she shouted, and then her children disappeared through a soot-stained column. Tara smiled – more good luck! She waited for the whole family to get through, and then started making her way to the column, however, as she was about to enter it, a large man stepped in her way. He looked very aggressive, and to Tara's dismay, pulled out a long wand.

"Tara Lestrange – you're coming with me," he said in a deep voice. He went to grab her collar, but she ducked out of the way, and on a whim, she ran through his legs, tumbling through the column.

Platform Nine and Three Quarters was a lot different to the muggle platforms: a red mist hung high in the air, emanating from a scarlet steam engine. To her left, she heard a mother saying farewell to two small boys, one of whom was rather chubby and kind-looking, and the other of whom had a small lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, visible beneath a curtain of jet-black hair. She took an instant liking to this strange boy, noticing how he was kind to the other boy. However, she didn't think about him for too long, as the conductor on the train shouted "1 minute!" She realised she still didn't have any robes, and an idea formed. She started crying, as part of her plan, and as she expected, the boys' mother came over and comforted her, listening to how Tara had 'lost her parents on another platform and didn't have any of her stuff'.

"There there!" the woman said, passing her a tissue. "I always carry around a spare pair of robes for Harry and Neville, but they refused to take them – I think you should have them, now get on the train! It is almost going!" Tara muttered her thanks and turned around, smiling to herself.

"Too easy!" she muttered under her breath whilst boarding the train...


	6. A Chance Encounter

A/N For this chapter, I had to change Cho Chang's character a bit, but it was for the sake of the story: I hope you'll see why...

**Chapter 6**

_Dear Mother,_

_I am writing to, you after my first four weeks here at Hogwarts. To sum up my experience so far, I guess I could say it has been revitalising, frustrating and wonderfully independent. Running away from you was probably the best choice I ever made – you may think it is odd for me to write to say this, but I feel it is necessary: You have a daughter, and I feel obliged to include you in my life somehow, no matter how much you disdain me._

_The night I left was lively, energetic and exciting, running through London on pure adrenaline, however, you must feel guilty somehow, surely, for the sound of your laughing at my accident pierces my dreams even to this day, twisting them into something worse than any nightmare. In spite of that, I know how dark and evil you truly are, and around here, surrounded by gossip, rumours and here-say, I can now guess why. You're a Death Eater: scum of the magical community, but why did you choose to conceal this from me? Because you're selfish, and have been training me for so long, forcing me to follow the path of life you had chosen, a path, had I known, I would have resisted fully. You wanted to use me to get back in he-who-must-not-be-named's inner circle. Acknowledging this makes me sick, but you have been like that for as long as I can remember, and I therefore know you can't help it, so I forgive you. The thought of you accepting this, and taking this in as the truth makes me laugh because I know it is an absurd thought, but I have to try. _

_You will be pleased to know I am one of the top in my year at Defence against the Dark Arts, or against Death Eaters. Your training in the Dark Arts themselves has helped me greatly, and I am only beaten by one person: Hermione Granger. I can imagine your face contorting with rage at the prospect of me learning to combat the dark arts, and for some reason, it is giving me pleasure, for it feels like some sort of small revenge against you. In view of that, I will now say this: Hermione Granger is a muggle, and she is beating me, and every other student, in every subject. Quite inspiring, don't you think? Anyway, she has impressed me so much, I am contemplating taking muggle studies now. _

_I also have several teachers whom I think have recognised me as your daughter, as wherever I go, suspicious eyes follow. This isn't a nice feeling, and although I have forgiven you for trying to make me a Death Eater, I want to know why you became a Death Eater in the first place: you can't have been motivated by money, so I can only guess that you wanted power._

_I will be amazed if this letter hasn't been burnt as soon as you receive it, but I hope that you at least begin to read it._

_From your ever faithful daughter, Tara._

_P.S. The Sorting Hat tried to put me in Slytherin, but I don't want to follow in your footsteps, so I am now in Ravenclaw._

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Tara smiled as she re-read the letter, thinking about Bellatrix's reaction to some of the news. She was already in the Owlery, so she tried to look for a suitable owl, a large one to make a long journey, as she was sure it would take a long time to find her Mother. She was walking round the circular room, her feet crunching on the small animal skeletons that blanketed the floor. However, all of the owls were miniscule, apart from a magnificent barn owl, completely white, which was sitting in the private section, meaning it belonged to someone. At that moment, she felt a rush of winter air as someone opened the door. She spun around to see a familiar face from King's Cross.

"Hello!" Harry said kindly, walking over to one of the owls. The large barn owl flew down to him and nibbled his hand affectionately. "This is Hedwig – my owl." Tara walked over to him and stroked the owl. "Were you about to send that letter?"

"Yeah, but I can't find a suitable owl! They're all too small," Tara replied truthfully, not making eye contact with Harry

"You can use Hedwig if you want – she's used to long journeys. Besides, I only need a small owl," Harry said, making Hedwig flutter over to Tara and land lazily on her shoulder.

"Thanks! That would be great!" Tara said happily – she was touched that this stranger was being so kind to her, something she had never really had. She attached her letter to Hedwig's foot, all the while blushing steadily. She knew she had to say something else. "I'm Tara, by the way – I think we have Herbology and Charms together?"

"Yeah! We do!" Harry said enthusiastically, sending his chosen owl away. Tara's heart fluttered as she realised she had been noticed. "I'm Harry Potter, by the way." Something inside her snapped as Tara realised this was the boy whom her Mother had wanted to spite for so long: he could hardly believe it.

"Um, I should get going," said Tara, starting towards the door. She was now looking at the floor, thinking something would happen to Harry if they made eye contact. As she reached the door, she walked into a tall, pretty girl, also from Ravenclaw, who had an air of shyness around her, although she seemed slightly arrogant.

"I'm so sorry!" Tara exclaimed. The other girl, whom she recognised as Cho Chang shook her head and swept past her to Harry, whom she immediately hugged. Tara felt crushed, and just wanted to get out, but for some reason, her feet remained rooted to the spot.

"Did you want something?" said Cho, breaking away from Harry.

"No – sorry, I'm going now," Tara said, turning scarlet at this embarrassment. As she walked out of the door, she heard Cho say "Some people: my Dad warned me a lot of witches and wizards are real freaks!" Tara felt very angry, and felt her wand grow hot with her rage. However, she managed to restrain herself, and to her relief, heard Harry say "Leave her alone: she's perfectly nice," making her smile dreamily...

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**A/N Tara: I can't believe I survived that!**

**Me: It wasn't that bad: I've been through much worse!**

**Harry: Cho's like that: review or she'll humiliate you too.**

**Cho: And I'll stop chapter 7 from coming unless I get 40 reviews - that's only 8 more! HIYAHHHH!**

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	7. Restoration and Reward

****

A/N Apology to all my alerters: The chapter keeps deleting itself, hence its numerous emails, but hopefully it won't happen again!

Chapter 7

Bellatrix hated Tara for running away. Although she would not admit it, it mentally hurt her, seeing the only thing in the world that she saw as rightfully hers abandon her. All she wanted was for Tara to grow up, and be more successful in the dark art than her mother, but holding a letter she had just received, Bellatrix knew that wasn't possible. She was in the living room of her stolen house, sitting in an ancient arm chair, cockroaches and other vermin running circles around her feet on the dirt-coated floor. A fire had been lit in the centre of the room, onto which Bellatrix kept throwing various things that belonged to the muggles who had inhabited the house before: photos of little children with their parents, smiling, videos of weddings, births and birthdays, toys, now covered in dust. She had no feeling for anything she threw onto the crackling fire, and took pleasure in hearing the muggle memorabilia crackle in the flames.

Bellatrix started laughing as she reached the end of the letter, despite feeling as though someone had plunged a knife into the spot her heart should be in. From now on, Tara was no longer her daughter. She wanted nothing more to do with her: her name was poison. Bellatrix stood up and scrunched up the letter in her fist. She stuck it just above the fire, and ignored the pain of the flames licking her knuckles. Seconds later, she opened the fist, and the letter, which had turned to ash, fell into the heart of the fire. She watched the ashes turn to embers, and then went out of the house, into the cold November air, which shocked her lungs. She realised she hadn't been outside in months, and the harsh Winter sunlight felt like it was burning her. As she started up the street, a thought occurred to her: she couldn't just leave the house like it was. Someone would find he3r out. With this in mind, she shouted "Avada Kedava!" The green curse smashed through the front window, into the front room, and as soon as it made contact with the fire, it erupted, engulfing the entire house, as well as several houses near it. As muggles cautiously came out of their houses to see what the eruption was, they could hear Bellatrix's laughter, disappearing round the corner of the street.

Bellatrix apparated as soon as she was out of sight, appearing in the middle of a cemetery. Nearby, she could hear the sea, eating away at the immense cliffs which bore the brunt of it. She had been here once before, and only knew the place by the name 'Reaper's Court'. A shiver ran down her spine, making her smile evilly. She slowly made her way to the centre of the graveyard, mumbling to herself in gibberish. If anyone had been close to her, they might have caught snippets of what she was saying, but the graveyard was deserted. In fact, Bellatrix knew that a large area around it was deserted too.

She soon reached a towering, stone monument in the centre, and ran her finger over the name it bore- 'Tom Riddle'. Despite not being mentally stable, Bellatrix knew what had happened the night Voldemort had tried to kill Harry Potter: he had nearly been killed himself. Also, she knew that most Death Eaters would desert him, believing him to be pathetically weak, powerless or dead. However, imaging the Dark Lord's delight when she announced that she had remained loyal made Bellatrix's body fill with pleasure. For some reason, she knew Voldemort would be in this graveyard, not dead, but in hiding. She wanted to find and help him, and she knew exactly how to.

Bellatrix, my dear, it has been a long time," a voice said, emanating from an unknown source from behind Tom Riddle's grave. "You know me well enough that you found me here." Bellatrix's eyes widened: this was the moment she had been waiting for.

"I know how to restore you, my lord," Bellatrix said, turning around. She found herself facing a tall, cloaked figure, a black hood concealing the head. Voldemort was dishevelled and skeletal, and by looking into the hood. Bellatrix could see his red eyes, barely more than narrow slits in his head. "I know how to give you a proper body."

"How? I have searched: many have searched, and we all have failed. How can it be that you, a traitor, have found a way?" Voldemort spat at Bellatrix with disgust. She knew that he would be angry with her for killing the body of Tom Riddle he had given her.

"Please, you have to understand: my motives were pure. He didn't understand my dark ways," Bellatrix stuttered, a hint of desperation in her voice. "I want the real thing: you, not a mere, slushy memory." There was a pause of several seconds in which an air of uncertainty hung between Bellatrix and Voldemort.

"You are saying my magic went wrong?" Voldemort said in a fake-sweet voice. Bellatrix saw his bony hand, barely holding a long wand, rise and aim at her.

"Not at all! He was just...too human!" Bellatrix shouted. This explanation seemed to have done the trick, as Voldemort lowered his wand.

"Please, then, you have come here to restore me, alas capturing my interests, and when you have done so, I can promise you what you want," Voldemort said. The reward made Bellatrix set to work straight away. She had started chanting a long, complex spell, only stopping to wipe the sweat off her furrowed brow.

"My Lord, if you would step into the red circle, you will gain the body you had as a 16 year old," Bellatrix said, after two minutes of non-stop chanting. On the floor in front of Tom Riddle's grave, was a red circle imprinted on the dewy grass. Voldemort made his way to the centre of the circle, and almost immediately, let ,out a scream of agony. Bellatrix gasped: she must have done something wrong. She rushed towards him, and saw that he had turned into the 16 year old Tom Riddle. He was almost identical, although there was a glimmer of something in his eyes which hadn't been there before. Bellatrix sighed with relief, but a wave of pain washed over her body, causing her to scream in the way Voldemort had done. She fell to the floor as Voldemort rose, and the pain suddenly stopped.

"You fool! You've got the effects of the spell on your body too!" Voldemort sneered. He sounded more human now, hardly seeming like a mass murderer and the darkest wizard of all time. Bellatrix got up onto her feet. She felt a bit smaller, and as she stepped out of the circle, a brilliant plan entered her head. She turned to look at Voldemort, but found him staring intently at her, his reddish eyes fixated on her black pupils. He knew what she was thinking: he knew the plan. He lifted his wand, and with a single flick, his black hair turned blond, and his eyes turned sky-blue. He also grew several inches in the space of a few seconds. Bellatrix understood what he wanted her to do: if they were to follow her plan, and go back to Hogwarts, to kill Harry Potter, she would have to disguise herself. With a flick of her wand, her lank, black hair turned blond and curly, and her sullen face turned into the face of someone trust-worthy and approachable.

"As promised, your reward," Voldemort said simply. He leant forward and kissed Bellatrix, giving her what she had craved for so long. She was smiling she sunk to the ground...

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**Tara: Chapter 6 wasn't very good...not many hits or reviews...although thanks to those who did review!**

**Me: I know. I will rewrite it, but I hope this chapter is better. By the by, I know Voldemort is in Quirrel's body for the first book, but I am changing it for the story line :P**

**Bellatrix: I sure think this is better****...**

**Voldemort: The review count must reach 42 or above for the next chapter...or I will get you...**

**Harry: Put nicely, please review! I want to see Bellatrix's plan unfold... :P**


	8. The Plan in Action

**A/N I know I said I would update when I got 42 reviews, but I know that is very unlikely! Enjoy this chapter... Also, I know I am veering off katja134's challenge story line, but stay tuned and I promise you will see why I have gone this way...Her storyline will happen soon!**

**Chapter 8**

**(A/N from Tara's POV)**

I woke up and looked outside my window. A blanket of snow covered the landscape as far as the eye could see, and small flakes of the stuff were still drifting from the white sky. It was a typical December morning, and there was a feeling of excitement in the air: Christmas was in a week. Was I looking forward to Christmas? Not really – I would have to stay at school, since I've not got any letters from home, not that I'd expect to.

I realised it was still early, as the other girls were still snoring, so I got dressed silently and went to the library. It felt nice to walk around the school so early: the air was crisp and it felt good not to be looked at wherever I went, but something felt strange. Dismissing this strange feeling, I walked into the library and walked around the immense bookcases. Every now and then, a title caught my eye, but I didn't stop to read anything, because I wanted to go to the newspaper section. I planned to find articles about Voldemort and my Mother, as I still didn't know too much about them, despite everyone in the school, teachers included, talking about them whenever I appeared.

I reached the newspaper section, and made a decision to look up the date I was born. Starting at the top of one of the large piles of papers, I looked for it, but something else caught my eye: "Terror at Hogwarts: The Aftermath". There was a large picture of Hogwarts with the dark mark set above it on the front page. I remembered a day last year when my mother tried to teach me how to conjure the dark mark, but I didn't know what it was. I couldn't even do it properly: the snake conjured from my wand would almost smile – hardly scary! I checked the date before reading the article: 19th July 1976. This was the year my Mother left school...

_'The Daily Profit hasn't been able to report much concerning the recent attack on Hogwarts, Rita Skeeter (junior reporter) writes, however, more details have been released today, five days after the actual attack. On the night of the 14th of July, Death Eaters, accompanied by he-who-must-not-be-named, entered the castle, and despite advanced warning, many students were unable to be evacuated due to the Hogwarts Express departing too quickly. Albus Dumbledore, newly appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts, has said that he remained and manages to get many of the remaining student to safety, however, he also said that regrettably, 50 were left at the mercy of the Dark Lord and his followers. _

_According to a reliable source, the Dark Lord used a 'decimation system', and only kept 1 in 10 of the students alive, using an unforgivable curse to kill the others. Among the students thought to be alive include Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, however, there whereabouts is currently unknown. It has also reported that there were signs of torture (the cruciatus curse) on the bodies of the murdered students. Although this is the worst magical massacre since the Middle Ages, Hogwarts will open as normal on the 1st of September.'_

I put the article on the floor. It must have been horrible for my Mother to go through that and I felt sad for her in spite of what she had become. I walked lifelessly out of the library and into the Great Hall, where the first students awake were helping themselves to breakfast. I sat there for several minutes, reliving the horror that my Mother must have gone through, but then Cho walked past.

"Hello Tara! Nice Robes! I bet your Mum made them! I bet I'll die if I touch them!" She said cruelly, her words punctuated with hate. Her girlfriends surrounding her rang out with laughter, and they trotted off to sit further along the Ravenclaw table. Cho managed to drive the newspaper article out of my head, so I started to eat.Before I had a chance to finish, a blond boy and girl, hugging, came and sat opposite me. I guessed they must have been in their 5th year at least.

"Hello!" said the boy. I had been looking over at Harry, sitting at the Gryffindor table chatting merrily with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, but I averted my gaze to address these strange people.

"Hello?" I replied, confused as to why they were talking to me. I noticed that the boy's eyes were slightly red and narrow, the girl had a strange streak of black hair contrasting against the blond, and it was straight and lank unlike the rest, which was curly and bouncy.

"Sorry! You don't know us!" the boy exclaimed, and they both laughed loudly. People turned around to see who was making the loud sounds, which echoed around the hall. "I'm Tom and this is Bella!" The girl giggled happily and kissed his cheek. To my surprise, her pushed her away, and she looked somewhat disappointed, until she refocused her attention on me.

"We're working on a project to do with first years," Bella explained, talking for the first time. She had a horrible high-pitched voice to match her annoying giggles. "We would like you to come to the 5th floor work room during your first lesson – you get to miss it!" They then started to get up, satisfied that they'd said enough.

"Wait," I said, stopping them. "What do I have to do?"

"You'll find out when you get there, won't you!" Tom explained. I could have sworn that he muttered something else to Bella quickly. "Don't worry – there'll be other first years there too!" Again, I thought he muttered something else, but again I couldn't hear it. "See you soon!" They both said together, leaving me in peace. I thought about the strange encounter, but decided to go to their meeting or whatever anyway. At least it would get me out of double Transfiguration with McGonagal for a while!

The bell rang out, signalling for the start of the first lesson, and I went to the fifth floor as I had been told to. Strangely, I didn't notice any other first years coming this way too, but thought they must already be there. I reached the workroom, and found Harry standing outside the door. I smiled at him, steadily turning scarlet.

"Looking forward to Christmas?" He asked politely after several tense moments of silence. However, as I opened my mouth to reply, the door opened and Bella stepped out.

"Is it only you two? I guess the others would rather work!" she joked. I smiled politely and walked in, followed by Harry.

Tom was stood at the front of the workroom, and all the desks and chairs had been pushed to the sides, bordering the room messily.

"Fantastic!" He said, his red eyes shining. Harry suddenly winced, his hand darting up to his forehead where he touched his scar. "Hello Harry! I've been looking forward to this for ages!"

"What's going on?" I asked in a panicked voice. I knew something was wrong.

"Shut up, you whiney brat!" a cold voice screeched from behind me. I spun around and gasped as I saw my Mum standing where Bella had been, looking more dishevelled than ever. Harry also gasped, but he was looking the other way, at Tom. I turned around once more, instinctively holding Harry's hand, to see a tall, skeletal cloaked figure, their red eyes shining through their dark hood...

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**A/N Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far - you are my inspiration! - and thnks for reading up to this point. Please press the little 'go' button and tell me what you think of this chapter or the story so far, whatever you have to say. I have an ambition to write a popular story where I get lots of reviews, but haven't had that yet - please give me your thoughts! Please also note: Reviews make me write faster...I am like a robot that eats them for energy...**


	9. Time Warp

**A/N I am currently looking for a Beta for this story! Please apply within a review and I will PM you.**

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**Chapter 9**

**(From Tara's POV)**

I looked desperately for a way out: I didn't know exactly what the masked figure was, but I knew it wasn't good, not by the way Harry froze when he saw it. Harry was rubbing his forehead, apparently in pain, so I grabbed his wrist and made for the door as fast as I could. Predictably, I found the door wouldn't open, and had to turn around to face Bellatrix's piercing laughter.

"You idiot! Did you really think that the Dark Lord and his handsome apprentice wouldn't think of that?" She mocked. Her face twisted and she shouted, "Fools! How dare you insult our intelligence! Crucio!" A purple jet shot out of her dark-wood wand and hit me squarely on the chest. I fell to the floor in overwhelming pain, however, from my Mother's own teachings, I knew how to counteract the spell. I tried to lie perfectly still, fighting the urge to move, and the spell melted away.

"Thanks for teaching me that, _Mummy_," I said darkly, making Bellatrix's face contort with uncontrollable rage, "I knew it would be useful someday." Harry looked at me strangely – he must have heard the rumours saying I was Bellatrix's daughter, but it was obviously strange to see it in real life. The pain in his forehead seemed to have subsided, and he was now standing normally, eyes fixed intently on the hooded figure. That's when I realised what the hooded figure was – Voldemort. My Stomach twisted as another realisation washed over me, but I refused to admit it to myself.

"Watch your mouth, you insolent cow!" Bellatrix shrieked. "After all those years of teaching and caring for you, all you can do is throw it back in my face!" I snorted with laughter – she never cared for me, and I always hated what she taught me – dark magic. I didn't respond to her comment though – that would be giving her what she wanted: to make me angry for no reason.

"Careful Bellatrix, don't do anything rash now," said a deep sorrowful voice, emanating from the hooded figure. He glided out of the shadows and the hood melted away, revealing the body of a young adult. "I think I might keep the body of my younger self a little longer," he explained, running his hand through his dark hair. I knew this was Tom Riddle, aged around 20, as I recognised him from some papers in the library. Although this was before he became Voldemort fully, there was a glint of evil in his hazel eyes, and there was an air of maliciousness around him.

"Very well, Master," Bellatrix said, smiling and sidling up to his side, where they kissed. A flame of disgust rose in my body, and I tore my gaze away. Harry also looked away, and I felt his clammy hand grab my hand, squeezing it tightly. Something looked different about him: he looked slightly older, with more of an air of maturity around him. With a jolt of shock, I realised he was also slightly taller. I stepped away and gasped: I also felt taller.

"What's happening to us?" I asked. Harry realised that I looked different, and armed himself with his wand, pointing at Tom Riddle in case anything happened. Tom stepped forward, smiling nastily at our confusion.

"This room isn't attached to your world, and in this 'parallel world', if you like, time seems to just slip by!" HE and Bellatrix both laughed here. For some reason, they didn't look much older, so I assumed they must be immune to the effects of this strange room.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, speaking for the first time since entering the room.

"In your world, your doubles have been living your lives: it is like you were never in here, but if anything were to happen to you in here, like, for instance, you were to die (he smiled ruefully), your doubles would also die. However, here, it feels like 5 minutes have passed, where in the real world, 3 years have passed!" I suddenly felt very sick. How could this be possible? I couldn't be 14, not when I was 11 just minutes ago!

Harry turned to me and whispered "We need to get out of here." Although this was obvious, my clouded mind had failed to reach this conclusion.

"You can't, can you though!" shrieked Bellatrix, smiling at us, her eyes filled with contempt.

"What're you going to do with us?" enquired Harry. His voice sounded deeper now: I laughed inwardly at the fact we had both gone through puberty in about 6 minutes!

"That is where we have a dilemma, my friend!" said Tom, fake-sympathy riddling his words. "Where you could kill you now, we would get little satisfaction from that! So, what to do, what to do, what to do?" He said in a patronising voice, prolonging the suspense as much as he could. "We think that we shall cause you unimaginable pain, but not to worry, we'll keep you alive, until you are such an age where everyone you know and love will be dead. That is when we'll send you back out into the real world, so old and frail that your days will be limited…very limited. Of course, that would mean we wouldn't actually kill you, but we'd have at least wasted most of your pathetic lives!" Tom was revelling in our sorrow, whereas Harry and me couldn't believe what we had just heard.

"Let the torture commence then!" Bellatrix screamed, and she then barked several spells, which forced us to stand up and be tortured. I can only compare the pain to having white-hot daggers plunged into your body non-stop. I screamed out in pain, but an idea popped into my head, which shut me up. Anyway, screaming out in pain would just give Tom and Bellatrix more pleasure.

After several more horribly long minutes, the spells stopped temporarily. If I wanted to get out, I'd have to act now. I turned to Harry and gasped: I was staring into the face of a 17-year-old! On impulse, I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his neck. After two seconds, I felt us disappear, become weightless, and leave the wretched room, leaving to the sound of Bellatrix cursing, and we soon hit solid ground, our lips still touching. I stood up, brishing dirt off my new, bigger robes, noting the badge on them had changed to reveal I was in my 7th year. Harry also got up and turned to me.

"How?"

"Since we were at least 16 and weren't technically in Hogwarts, I guessed our doubles must have learned how to apparate," I explained calmly, turning to face the gates into the Hogwarts ground.

"Genius! I heard Harry exclaim, and he hugged me tightly. We started to walk back up to Hogwarts, excited and scared to see what we would find…

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**A/N Sorry for the long wait - I have no reasonable excuse other than I am lazy and had schoolwork...yes...anyway, make me happy and hit the go button! **

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far - you are truly nice!**


	10. Confusion

**A/N Hello! Sorry about the longish wait for me to update! I have tons of coursework, and that combined with the fact I only got 4 reviews for the last time, meant I took longer to update! Thanks to every who did review though! Anyway, in this chapter, just be aware that I changed Cho'scharacter, so please don't complain aout her not being a little nice girl...unless you really want to, that is!**

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(From Harry's POV)

Chapter 10

We wandered up the road to the castle – fortunately, Hagrid had been standing at the gate, apparently guarding the castle, although I am sure the enchantments would've held up.

"Dangerous night to be out, Harry, you should know better!" he said, but although he sounded light-hearted, I knew there was a hidden meaning behind this. His eyes looked truly fearful of something, but because so long had passed since I had been here – apparently 6 years! – I did not know what. I also though it was strange that he ignored Tara completely, but I didn't know how I knew this! It seemed to me that everything my double had been doing in the real world was n0ow stored in my memory.

"Harry, are you alright?" Tara said when we were about halfway to the immense looming castle ahead of us, casting a dark shadow on the path. The blue sky was now streaked with red as the sun set.

"Yeah, but it's going to be strange, you know…" I said, knowing I could only point out the obvious. Of course it was going to be strange! I had been absent for 6 years! We continued walking more in silence, and by the time we reached the front door, it was pitch black. I noticed that up until then it had been very warm, but there was now a sudden chill in the air. I reached out to open the great oak door, but Tara reached out and stopped me.

"Wait!" she said. I turned to look at her and saw her eyes glittering as moonbeams hit them. How cliché! It was like a typical love movie…"What'd you think they're doing?"…With a dark, dark twist.

"I hope they're trapped!" I said, making both of us smile temporarily. "Listen, that was hell in that other world, but we can't show what we've been through here. No one thinks anything has happened! Anyway, let's act happy and get on with our lives!" Tara nodded, blinking back the tears in her eyes. We took a deep breath, and then went through the door, the warmness of the castle enveloping us mercifully.

"Harry Potter, you two-timing bastard!" shouted a voice as soon as the door closed. I spun around, confused, to see who had said it. "I have been looking all over for you, and here you are, with missy go poor-prat!" Cho Chang came racing down the stairs, her hair whipping about her furiously.

"Whoa, Cho! I see you can insult better these days!" I said, trying to fit in with the moment. Had I really been going out with her since the 1st year?

"Shut your face!" Cho nearly turned purple with the effort of trying to insult me, making me and Tara burst out laughing.

"Calm down, _sweetie_," I said in a mocking voice. I temporarily shivered as the thought that I sounded like Bellatrix whilst mocking entered my head, but I pushed it out of my thoughts.

"Don't you tell me to calm down! We're through!" Cho stomped her foot indignantly and raced back up the staircase after blowing raspberries in a bemused Tara's face. I nearly wet myself with laughter.

"At least she hasn't changed much!" I said, but that wasn't very comforting.

"I should go to bed, anyway – it'll take a while to figure out the new password!" Tara said. At that moment, I heard sharp footsteps making their way down the stairs.

"Potter! Lestrange!" It was McGonagal. "I expected better of you two of all people! It's past midnight and you're still up – detention for you both, my office, tomorrow at 8:00. Lestrange, I believe this is your first detention, and as for you Potter, you know how the headmaster will react when he finds out you're in trouble again!" With that, she strode straight past us into the Great Hall.

"Good night Tara, I 'spose," I said. Even though I felt like I had only been away a few hours, the thought of sleeping in a comfy bed was very welcoming. She stood on tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek, catching me off guard, so I only had time to make a wet smacking sound in her ear.

"Be ready next time!" she teased playfully, and then started walking off.

"Does this mean we're going out then?" I shouted as she walked away towards the Ravenclaw Common Room.

"Good night, Harry!" she said – I don't think she could hear me that well. Oh well! I will see tomorrow. We've known eachother for what, 3 days? But actually, I suppose it has been over 6 years now, and we have been through a lot together.

I turned towards the staircase and ran up it, taking the steps two by two. By the fourth floor, I was tried out, so I had to slow down to catch my breath. It was then a strange thought crossed my mind – what had McGonagal meant by "You know how the headmaster will react when he finds out you're in trouble again?" It certainly didn't sound like something Dumbledore would implore – he was way too kind and ditzy, or at least, that was my first impression of him from the opening feast…all those years ago. Something must've happened, but I didn't ponder on it too long – I heard footsteps hot on my trail, so I bolted up the remaining staircases to find myself standing cluelessly outside the Gryffindor Tower entrance.

"Dam it!" I cursed out loud: I didn't have a clue what the password was. "Erm…magic?" I said, hoping foolishly that the password would be so ridiculously simple. "Wand?" Nope. "Spell?" Nope. A sudden though occurred to me just as the Fat Lady was getting impatient. "Avada!" I said, hoping something would happen, and to my amazement, portrait swung open! How did I know that?

The Common Room was the picture of warmth and homeliness – the fire was still burning, throwing brilliant orange shadows across the mismatched sofas, the table had opened boxes of magical chocolates and scraps of parchment adorning it, and there was a familiar person with bright red hair laying across an armchair, apparently asleep. I walked up to him curiously. I knew him, even though he had clearly aged somewhat!

"Ron!" I said, shaking him by the shoulders.

"Kmph mer – what?" he said grumpily, his eyes opening out of annoyance. "Harry! I've been waiting for you – Hermione was too, but she got bored and went to bed. Where the hell were you? You were meant to help me with Potions homework – I couldn't find the prince's book," Ron finished. None of this made much sense to me.

"Since when have I been any good at potions?" I asked innocently. Ron slapped his palm on his face, feigning annoyance.

"Since you got the half blood Prince's book," he said slowly, emphasizing each syllable. "Have you been smoking pot again?" I was alarmed he asked me this.

"Why would I ever be stupid enough to do that?!" I asked, disgusted.

"Ever since Cho made you – why don't you remember this?" Ron asked – he was starting to click that something wasn't right!

"Doesn't matter – we just broke up, anyway," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Again? I give it a day – It only lasted half an hour last time, mind you…" Ron muttered, an amused grin on his face.

"Anyway, I need to sleep – must go and see Dumbledore in the morning," I said, starting to climb the spiral staircase to my dormitory. Ron, however, covered his face with him palm again and sighed.

"Harry – you were there last year!" I looked confused. "Dumbledore," Ron started, speaking to me as if I were a toddler again, "is dead!"

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**A/N I hope you enjoyed that chapter then - if you haven't worked it out already, it is now set in DH times, except I am keeping them at Hogwarts. Anyway, make me happy and press go!**


	11. Principles and Principals

**Chapter 11**

Harry slept deeply that night: images flashed through his heads, and he was sure that these showed events that he'd missed: at least he wouldn't feel like such an outside now. When he finally woke up, he found Ron up and fully dressed in quidditch robes, ready to go to breakfast.

"Crikey, mate! It's about time you woke up – we got to be on the pitch in half an hour!" Ron said, seeing Harry was awake. Harry looked very groggy, so Ron whipped his covers off, exposing him to the cold winter air.

"What time is it?" Harry asked, diving to hide beneath his covers.

"6:30pm, and it is a crisp December morning," Ron said, looking somewhat dignified in his uniform. "We're gonna crush those Slytherins at Quidditch!"

"Quidditch? How the hell am I supposed to play Quidditch?!" Harry said in surprise. When he left, he had been an inexperienced first year, and now, he had to play against a team of burly Slytherins with bad halitosis.

"Yes, you moron!" Ron said, a look of bemusement on his face. "You're our ticket to victory, I mean, I know you'll beat Malfoy to the snitch, anyway, you need to get ready, I'm going to have some food, and I'll meet you in the changing rooms in half an hour – be there!" Harry almost screamed out in frustration. However, he knew he must keep calm – it had been in his dreams, and thinking about it, he secretly yearned to get up on his firebolt and feel the cool air whip his face and hair.

He bolted out of bed and sure enough, found his quidditch robes on top of his trunk. He slipped them on, acknowledging that this was the first time he realised how tall he was getting. Looking around the room one last time, as if to find help, he ran down the staircase and out of the Gryffindor Common Room, slamming the fat lady's portrait behind him.

Before he could properly hear her insults, he was off, sliding down the banisters to the ground floor, only scaring a couple of first years.

"Sorry!" He shouted at a large gaggle of small girls who had screamed as he raced passed them. He was about to escape the entrance hall when someone shouted his name.

"Harry!" He spun around to see Tara running up to him. 'She looks stunning', he thought as he saw her wide, brown eyes full of concern for him coming closer and closer, until WALLOP! She ran straight into him. "I'm so sorry!" she said, her face glowing scarlet, as they stood themselves up. "I just can't get used to this new body, but at least I got these incredible-"

"Tara!" Harry shouted, knowing what Tara was about to say – he still felt it a taboo to talk about these things, despite being 17.

"Sorry, anyway, I can't believe you have to do this, but I'm sure you'll be fine – subconsciously, you know how to play quidditch, I'm sure."

"Thanks. Well, good luck!" Harry said, starting to walk off.

"Why are you wishing me good luck?" Tara asked, confused. She saw him realise his mistake and ran up to him, falling into a romantic kiss, ironically, below some Mistletoe that someone had hung on the ceiling.

"I need to go," said Harry, breaking apart from Tara gently. "See you!"

"Good luck!" Tara shouted after him.

Harry got down to the changing room with five minutes to spare, and according to Ron, he needed to discuss tactics with the team.

"Well," started Harry, who still couldn't remember much about quidditch. "Just try and get the balls and score, you know, before the Slytherins."

"Inspiring," said Ron. Harry wandered how Ron was so confident about quidditch – in his brief visions of it in his dream, Ron always looked downtrodden around quidditch season… "Anyway, we have to go out now – you know what this new headmaster is like – dad knows he's a Death Eater, but that still doesn't explain how he got into Hogwarts…" Ron looked slightly worried, but before Harry could question him further, Ron ushered him out into the Quidditch stadium. Harry was forced to lead his team into the immense arena, and cheers from supporting houses erupted out from the crowd, drowning out the Slytherin's boos. When he reached the middle of the pitch, Harry turned around to see Ron and Hermione stealing a quick kiss before the game, and then Ron running towards the rest of the team hurriedly.

"Please put your hands together for the great headmaster, Professor Marvollo!" Madam Hooch said, her voice magically magnified. The crowd erupted into applause, but Harry felt there was something artificial about it. From the entrance he and his team had just come in through, Harry saw a tall figure, which he presumed was the eponymous "Mavollo" walking out. He came out of the shade and rose his arms, clearly loving the fact everyone was applauding him.

He turned around so that Harry could see his face, and Harry almost fell to the ground: he was looking at a young man, with thick blond hair and a malicious grin, a tint of red- evil glinting in his slightly narrow eyes. He was walking towards Harry and his team. Without noticing, the Slytherin team had appeared next to the Gryffindors, and Marvollo walked towards the two captains, Harry and a very rough – looking boy with the physique of a mad body builder.

"Hello, Harry," Marvollo said, leaning forward slightly and speaking in a whisper.

Harry had had enough. "I'm ill," he said suddenly, and ran off the pitch. He could hear the crowd gasping as he ran towards the changing rooms.

"How can this be any worse?" he said out loud as he entered the changing room and slammed the door shut, his eyes tightly closed and his back sliding down the door.

"Harry!" said a shocked voice, suddenly. Harry opened his eyes to see Hermione, however, this wasn't the Hermione he knew. She looked as though she was just getting undressed, her clothes in a pile on the floor mingled with some other dark robes.

"Hermione!" Harry said, not knowing what he should do.

"Well, well, well, it's Potter time!" a smug voice said from round a corner. "Come to see why I wasn't playing today then?" Harry had forgotten that Malfoy was meant to be on the Slytherin team, and in the blur of going out onto the pitch, realised he hadn't seen him. What was worse, however, was that when Draco stepped round the corner, he too was almost fully undressed…

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**A/N I thought I should add in a new relationship, ou know, to spice things up a little. Also, I included Quidditch because I have yet to see a singly HArry POtter fanfic on here with Quidditch in it, although it is an essential part. Anyway, what do you think of HG/DM? How do you think Ron will react? What about Marvollo? Hit the go button and please tell me!**


	12. Three sins

**A/N Hello! Thanks for giving me so many reviews: you are all great and I wouldn't have updated without your support. Special thanks for Mr Tump Kooniart and VampirePrincessElvira for being such loyal reviewers, und danke fur die Besprchung katja134! Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!**

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**Chapter 12**

Harry stood at the changing room door with his mouth hanging open. He had to say something to break the uncomfortable silence.

"You're about to…you know…Malfoy?!" he spat out.

"Not about to Harry – it's done…" Hermione said, looking immensely guilty. Harry resisted the urge to vomit. He opened his mouth to say something else, but nothing came out, so he ran out of the room.

Outside, the quidditch match was in full swing without him, and as he ran back up to the castle, his thoughts changed from Hermione and Malfoy to the eponymous Professor Marvollo, or Tom Riddle, or Voldemort, or whatever other alias he had nowadays. He reached out and pushed the great oak door guarding the castle's insides open, and was greeted by a rush of warm air.

Harry ran up the stairs, narrowly avoiding an ink pellet thrown by Peeves as he reached the fifth floor. Naturally, Peeves shrieked with laughter and zoomed away, his red tailcoat visible until he wafted through a wall. Shaking off his encounter with Peeves, he continued running up to the Gryffindor Common Room, however, there was someone waiting for him outside the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Hello," Tara said, greeting him. The winter sunlight, which streamed through a nearby arrow-slit window illuminated her deathly-pale skin, emphasising her rose-red lips.

"Hi," Harry replied. He realised he didn't really have much to say to her.

"I came to see if you were alright – you ran off so fast," Tara said, looking sideways.

"Portobello!" Harry said suddenly. The Portrait of the fat lady swung forward to reveal the Gryffindor Common Room illuminated by a soft orange glow cast by a fire. The fat lady winked at him and told him since there wasn't anyone in the castle, Tara could also go in.

"Thanks," Harry said to the fat lady. He let Tara through the hole first and she sat on the plumpest armchair in the room.

"We should talk, Harry," Tara said, trying to make eye contact with Harry's emerald eyes. "We've been through a lot, you know, and we can help eachother." She looked at Harry sympathetically and he replied to her looks with a puzzled expression.

"What?" Tara sighed.

"I feel ok – I think I know what's going on," she said, reached out with her hand and touching Harry's knee, "but the question is how you're coping, because you seem a little stuck…" Harry looked outraged.

"Stuck? No, no, it's not like I've missed out a large chunk of my life or anything. Oh wait, it is! What do you expect me to do? Act like a 17-year-old? I am." Harry was out of breath from his rage.

"Harry-"

"Honestly, accusing me of-"

"Harry-"

"WHAT?!" Harry snapped. He knew there was truth in her words, but he just didn't want to admit it.

"Do you mind if we go up to your dorm for a bit?" Tara looked strangely innocent in spite of what Harry knew she wanted.

"Weren't you just accusing me of not being mentally stable?" Harry chuckled inwardly at this phrase.

"No – I'm finding it hard to," Tara started to explain, but somehow, she became lost for words.

"I know – don't worry," Harry said, grinning sheepishly. However, in his brain, a battle raged: he was 17, not 11, so probably half the people in his year had experienced what Tara wanted from him, but on the other side, his 11-year-old conscious screamed out "This is gross!" hence his reaction to finding Hermione and Malfoy naked earlier, although anyone would have been shocked by it!

Tara started walking up the stairs to the boys' dorm, and Harry followed, the battle in his brain still raging – sex or innocence?

"Harry, are you sure-" Harry cut her off by kissing her gently on the lips. It felt normal, and feeling this made him feel a whole lot better. Tara started to unbutton her top, but at the moment she was about to undo the third button, a noise erupted from downstairs in the Common Room.

"WE WON! WE WON!" a crowd chanted. Tara looked at Harry, her eyes wide and alert.

"I have to go," she said, rapidly slipping her robe on again and running down the stairs. From the sounds, Harry didn't think anyone noticed her slipping out, but he couldn't be sure because f the roaring crowd. He felt relieved, a great pressure lifted from him. He felt like Tara had been forcing him, but now, he was free. He took a deep breath and went downstairs, throwing himself into the crowd of mad Gryffindors.

"Harry, mate!" he could hear Ron shouting. "We won – 370 to 20! They were awful!" Harry muttered congratulations: he felt as he was missing out on feeling so elated at a victory he should have been part of.

"Oh yeah! Are you OK?" Ron shouted above the crowd, realising he hadn't asked Harry yet. However, before Harry could reply, Hermione waded through the crowd and kissed Ron, making the people around them whoop. Her eyes revealed she was slightly afraid: afraid that Harry would reveal her as the two-timer that she really was.

"Isn't it fantastic, Harry?" Hermione said this whilst nodding patronisingly.

"Yes, can I speak with you a second?" Harry said, grabbing of her arms and pulling her to the side whilst Ron rejoined the mob.

"How could you?" Harry said, his voice dripping with contempt at someone he though he could trust.

"Listen, I know you wouldn't want to mess up my relationship with Ron," Hermione replied fiercely, "so butt out." And with that, she walked off, leaving Harry with no choice but to keep quiet. He needed to escape, so he made for the exit of the Common Room.

Once he stepped outside the portrait hole, he regretted his decision, as immediately he was faced with two evil, glinting eyes.

"Where do you think you're going this late, Mr Potter?" Marvollo enquired, a malicious grin adorning his shadowed face.

"Nowhere, you scum-"

"Detention, Mr Potter – I don't recall having spoken much to you before," He laughed at this, his evil eyes glinting, "and therefore, it is especially inexcusable to be so rude. My office, 8 o'clock, and coincidentally, the password to get up to the headmaster's office is scum, ou see, I was thinking of Mudbloods when I set it."

Harry started to walk off, but was stopped.

"Oh, and Mr Potter, you Gryffindor pals better be quiet, or there'll be hell to pay…"

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**A/N You know what to do know - hit the go button and make me happy!**


	13. The Queen of Hearts

**A/N Thanks for such great reviews last chapter, although considering the thousands of hits I got within 3 days (usually I only get 70!), there should have been more. Anyway, for this chapter, remember that Marvollo is really Voldemort in disguise...Also, a shout out to Tarak795, thanks for the review, but I couldn't find your profile! Please contact me!  
**

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**Chapter 13**

Harry walked up the long staircase to Marvollo's Office. He couldn't help but notice the grandeur of the staircase, however, the adornments portrayed dark events: a dementor's kiss, use of an unforgivable curse.

A day had passed since Gryffindor had won their quidditch match, but now, Harry had to go to the new headmaster for detention. As soon as he even saw Professor Marvollo, he recognised the evil glint about his eyes. However, he had no idea what to expect from tonight: he had been so scared during the day he had just locked himself in his dormitory refusing to speak to anyone.

Harry reached the final door guarding the office. He knocked.

"Come in," a deep voice said from the other side. As he opened the door, pains shot up Harry's forehead. "Please, have a seat," Marvollo indicated a fluffy armchair. Harry walked up to it nervously, but couldn't see anything wrong with it, so he sat. That was his first mistake. As soon as his body touched the pillows, devil snare wrapped itself around him.

"I would advise that you don't move much," Marvollo said, grinning.

"Why?"

"It could kill you, my dear boy!" Marvollo let out a hearty laugh. Harry forced his body to relax immediately, and the devil snare stop constricting him so much. "I thought you would've known that, terrible, I suppose, how education has gone to pot recently!" Harry glared once more at his laughing headmaster resentfully.

"What are you going to do to me?" Harry asked, fed up of Marvollo delaying his punishment.

"Well, I thought we'd play a little game, but if you lose, you _have_ to do me a favour," Voldemort said, stroking the yellowing skin on his face.

"What favour?" Harry snarled. NO favour of the Dark Lord's could be anything good.

"Well, I have a bit of a…conundrum here," Voldemort said, trying to sound sophisticated despite using long words in the wrong place. "If I told you, you'd wriggle out of the little game, meaning that I'd just have to go ahead and kill you-" Harry's blood went cold- "but I want you to suffer long before that happy time, so I figured that I would force you to play my game." Harry took a deep breath. He had no choice.

"What do I have to do?" He said, sighing. 3 playing cards appeared on Marvollo's desk before him, their backs glinting silver.

"Guess which card is the ace," Voldemort said, "we will play thrice, but fail to find the precious ace and you're doing what I want." Harry hadn't noticed it, but as he looked around the room, desperately trying to seek ways to get out, he noticed all the portraits of previous headmasters and mistresses were facing the wall, their wooden backs gleaming in the silver moonlight pouring in from a nearby window. Harry hadn't thought about it, but if Dumbledore had died, his portrait would be up there too, but before his train of thought could continue, Voldemort banged the desk t get Harry's attention.

"Look at me!" he roared in a monstrous voice. Harry nearly jumped out of his seat at being shouted at so unexpectedly. Harry spun round and consequently, felt the devil's snare to crush him. All of a sudden, it disappeared, melting back into the seat, and Harry was free again. "If you move, you will die, Potter," Marvollo said, his eyes glowering dangerously. "Thank you," he said, seeing Harry sink into the chair again. "Anyway, on with our little game," his eyes were twinkling at the tasty prospect of Harry losing to him. "Pick a card, any card," he smiled again at the cliché of sounding like a magician rather than a wizard.

Harry reached forward and hesitated: what was at stake? What would Voldemort have him do? Would he die? Would anyone else die? A thousand questions raced through his mind. However, he had to pick one, because every second he waited, Marvollo got more and more annoyed.

"Pick one!" Marvollo bellowed again, making Harry jump and rashly choose a card. It was the queen of hearts. Seeing this card, he was reminded of Tara and was forced to think of how she might be implicated in Marvollo's plot: she must be somehow. Another thought entered his head: where was Bellatrix? At that moment, he swore he saw a flash of silver coming from the darkness in the far corner of the room.

"Ah! Only two more chances left to find the prized ace!" The cards shuffled themselves as Marvollo spoke, and it was time for Harry to potentially gamble with death again. He didn't want to be bellowed at again, so he chose the card in the middle again. To his dismay, as he lifted it, he found himself staring at the Queen of Hearts again.

"Fantastic!" Marvollo said, his face bearing a resemblance to an excitable toddle on Christmas day. He composed himself again. "Once more, please." Harry started to sweat loads, droplets of water trickling down his face. Once again, he found his hand automatically going for the card in the middle, and once again, he found himself staring blankly at the Queen of Hearts.

"I knew you would lose, Harry," Marvollo said calmly. He loved playing the game as it made Harry miserable: he was like a parasite that fed off his enemy's misery.

"How could you be so sure?" Harry asked, looking puzzled. In reply, Marvollo laid the playing cards on the mahogany desk, each showing the same picture: the queen of hearts. "You cheated!"

"Not really Harry – I said you had to find the ace, and there happened to be three playing cards on the table," Marvollo said, getting breathless with anticipation at what he would do to Harry next. "If you had searched elsewhere for the ace, I wouldn't have objected." Harry was so angry, his face started twitching. "As for my favour," Voldemort looked at the door, "Ella, you may enter!" Harry looked puzzled because he had barked this command at the door, but almost immediately, a girl, around his age, walked in. She had long, straight black hair, and two enormous round eyes, which sparkled in the moonlight.

"Harry, you are to show Ella around the school and take care of her while she gets settled in." Without hesitation, Harry jumped up and led Ella out of the room.

"Thank you, Harry," she said when they got out, "for doing this for me." She sounded very sweet and had a slight French accent.

"It's ok…" Harry was lost for words: for some reason, he felt really attracted to Ella, even though he was never one to judge based on looks. He turned around and saw her smiling at him, and before he knew it, she kissed him. A brief wave of guilt swept through Harry's body as he was reminded of Tara, but it passed quickly, and before he knew it, Ella had taken him to a secret passage way, where the kissing continued, that is, until things got more intimate…

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**A/N The good, the bad, and the downright ugly, I want to hear whatever you've got to say, so make me happy and hit the go button!** P.S. I would love to hear what you lot think about Ella - there will be some MAJOR developments soon based around her...


	14. Cheating with my Monster

**Chapter 14**  
(A/N From Tara's POV)

I woke up really early this morning. I don't know why, but I got up and looked out of the window just in time to see the sun emerge gloriously from the ambiguous mountains surrounding the cryptic castle. Sorry about the weird descriptions. I just feel a little poetic today – you'll have to put up with it!  
None of the other girls were up, so I silently slipped on my robes and slid out of the dormitory, feeling fresh and reawoken. I crept down the spiral staircase to the common room: much like the Gryffindor tower, and found myself standing in a deserted common room, the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw smiling down at me. It was unusual for the common room to be this empty: usually, there would be loads of sleeping kids lying around, not bothering to move after their late-night studying. I walked across the room. Under my foot as I reached the door, I felt something shatter. I looked down and under my foot found a mass of coloured glass, shards glinting feebly in the sunlight against the dull carpet.  
"Excuse me?" I heard a voice say, coming from the spiral staircase I had just came down. I turned around to see a dreamy-looking person looking at me vividly. She had dirty-blond hair and looked strangely serene.  
"Sorry, did I wake you up?" I asked quickly: maybe this glass thing belonged to her.  
"No," she said. I heard a slight hint of Irish in her voice. "I always get up early – its nice to get out before the air is filled by Wrackspurts." I was confused. "They're nocturnal, you see," she said, as if this would make me understand everything. She ambled slowly down the staircase and looked around the room, before walking over to me. I almost laughed at the way she walked around (she looked like a ghost) but stopped myself, realising it would be very rude. I also realised that if I had been here for 7 years, I must know this girl, who looked only a year younger than myself.  
"I'm sorry, but I can't remember your name," I said, my face reddening with embarrassment.  
"Luna Lovegood – don't worry about forgetting – I though I felt a Blimbit zooming around in here…" What the hell is a Blimbit? "Do you mind if I walk with you? It gets terribly boring sometimes being alone."  
"Yeah! Sure! That'd be fine. You can show me around some secret passageways, 'because I don't really explore much," I said modestly. To be honest, the thought of walking around the school with Loony…oops! Luna Lovegood was slightly daunting, although I am sure that around her, if I ever ran out of things to say, she would talk for the both of us!  
We headed out of the Ravenclaw area and wandered around several corridors.  
"There's a deserted corridor upstairs that not many people know about – It has a great sculpture depicting the inventor of Fizzing Whizbies." I already knew about this corridor, but like Luna, the intrigue of seeing this statue made me want to explore it – really.  
"Let's go check it out!" I said over enthusiastically. Luna grinned widely and began making her way to the stairs. "Hold on a sec – I just need to check something – I'll meet you up there in a minute." I needed a moment alone temporarily. Something felt wrong – I know that sounds horribly cliché, but I suddenly felt a wave of horror drop through my body. Luna shrugged and ran eagerly up the staircase, reminding me of a giddy little schoolgirl skipping merrily along a suburban street.  
Luna disappeared from view and I felt something touch my shoulder. Instinctively, I spun around, but was greeted by nothing other than a haze of morning air.  
"Who's there?" I shouted, drawing my wand. The tip was glowing red, matching my feeling of despair. There was no reply. I turned back around and nearly jumped out of my skin as I found a tapestry on a nearby wall staring at me with its beady eyes.  
"You there!" It shouted. It was a fat knight in a bronze suit of armour, riding a fat pony, which was grazing on the woollen grass. "Yes! You there!" He shouted again when I looked back at him. "For goodness…." He started mumbling angrily to himself. "Come here!" he bellowed, making me jump again. I rushed over towards him, fighting the irrational fear that he would jump out of the tapestry and would be decapitated.  
"Were you out here stalking these here corridors hither?" I giggled inwardly at his strange speech, resisting the urge to return his rudeness by shouting "What the hell?"  
"No." He looked at me suspiciously. "I was in bed. Sleeping." He still looked suspicious.  
"With whom?" I nearly slapped him before remembering that he was part of a 2D tapestry.  
"No one! How dare you!" I shouted incredulously.  
"Carry on then," and with that, he lifted his head up high, and I swear that as I started walking up the staircase to find Luna, he blew raspberries my back, muttering insults like "whore" and "sleeping slut". Naturally, these insults didn't bother me, as they were coming from a fat ancient knight who has a severe speech impediment, besides, his suspicions weren't even true!  
I ran up the staircase, eager to escape the demented knight, and found myself in the deserted corridor, which was dimly lit by beams of sunlight pouring through rafters near the ceiling, illuminating dust from the past millennium before the hit the ground, forming strange spot-light shapes. "Luna?" I shouted. I had a feeling if I was any louder, I might cause an avalanche.  
"Over here – I can here a strange sound," she replied, keeping her dreamy demeanour despite having to shout at me from the other end of the corridor. I walked up to where her voice came from and found her staring at another tapestry. Fortunately, this one was devoid of fat knights and ponies.  
"Shh!" Luna said, pressing her finger to her lips when she saw my mouth open to speak. "Listen carefully!" We stood in silence for several minutes before I heard what she was hearing. It sounded like a muffled snore and seconds later, it was repeated. I had a sudden thought.  
"Luna," I said.  
"Yes?"  
"Is there a passageway behind this tapestry?"  
"I don't know, but it sure would explain the sound," and with that, she reached forward and lifted the tapestry, showering us with clouds of thick dust. I couldn't see anything because of it, but when it cleared, the sight made me realise why I had had a bad feeling earlier.  
"Harry!" I shouted. Harry jerked awake, and upon seeing me and Luna, pulled his robe over his entire body, whereas before it had only been loosely wrapped around him.  
"Tara! What are you doing here?" He asked, putting his glasses on. The mass of black hair next to him started to awaken.  
"Who the hell is that?" I said. I was furious.  
"Ella – she's new," he said, as if that would explain everything. I stepped forward and kicked Ella as hard as I could, and she jumped up.  
"Ow!" her voice sounded horrible and scratchy. Harry turned to her.  
"Ella – are you OK? You didn't sound like that yesterday," he said. I stared at him in disbelief, and the slapped his face as hard as I could – it felt good! Luna started clapping, but stop when Harry shot her dirty looks.  
"Oh look," Ella started to say. Her greasy black hair was covering her face, but I knew who this was. Before she could say anything else, I shouted "Crucio!" Her hair shot out of the way, waving wildly around her twisted face, which was screaming out in agony.  
"Lestrange? You've got to be kidding," said, Harry, jumping up (with his robe on), shaking his head in denial. "I did not just sleep with that toxic bitch," he said, muttering to himself once again. He ran off, pushing past Luna.  
"Worse than that," I shouted after him, "You slept with my monstrous mother, you bastard!" I felt sick at the thought, but as I shouted these words, Bellatrix escaped my spell and disappeared: I don't know how, but when I looked around back at her, she was gone. I turned to Luna, but before she could say anything, a voice rang out, echoing throughout the castle.  
"Tara Lestrange, please will you report to the headmaster's office immediately!"…

**A/N Sorry about the long wait, but here is the latest chapter! It sounds confusing, but think, and you'll get what has happened and what will happen. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! Now, make me happy and press go!**


	15. Forbidden Fruits

Chapter 15

Tara wandered slowly up the the headmaster's office, thought of her encouter with Harry filling her head. Before she had stormed off, he had tried to say something about the headmaster, but she didn't want to hear it: whatever he said must have been a lie, because after all, he was a cheating misogynistic moron in Tara's opinion.

She had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't realise she had come to a staircase, and she walked into the bottom step, only noticing when a sharp pain shot up her shin.

"Owch!" she shouted, falling to the floor. To her left, she could hear several first years sniggering, so she turned around to them and bellowed "Haven't you go anywhere better to be?" followed by several insults. The first years stopped laughing immediately and jumped out of their skins when Tara screamed at them, frozen to where they were standing with fear. Tara stood up and shouted "Move!" at the first years, and they scurried away, looking as if they were about to wet themselves.

Tara continued ahead, walking faster than she had before. No-one else got in her way, fortunately, and she was soon standing outside the magnificent entrance to the headmaster's office. She realised she had never actually been up here before, though the site in front of her was very different to what she had imagined. In her mind, the headmaster's office would be a very boring place, and as for the entrance, it would be an old fashioned insignificant wooden door.

However, this was a different story. The door itself was made of a smooth, metallic material, coated perfectly with black enamel. In it was reflected everything, including Tara herself. Surrounding the black door were bars of green metal, overlapping each other and curling up at the ends. There was a light reflected off all these shiny surfaces. Tara went to open the door, but something caught her eye. She looked up and saw a perfectly round, red sphere. It started floating down until it stopped in front of her face, her breath condensing on its perfect surface. Tara could see herself in it, and her eyes were wide with ambiguity. She reached out with her hands an touched the red sphere gently with her fingertips. Immediately, her body relaxed, and although she didn't know it, she sank to the floor. However, her mind was somewhere else.

"Hello?" she called out. The corridor had suddenly become misty, and there was something laying on her feet. She looked down and found at herfelf staring at her own body. She jumped back, thinking she was dead. "Hello?" She shouted again, louder. She had started backing away from where her body laid, still staring down the dark, misty corridor spread out in front of herself. She kept calling out until she felt herself back into someone.

"Whoa!" said the person as they both spun around. "Hello there!" Tara found herself facing a dark-haired boy, around her own age.

"What is this place?" Tara asked, blurting out the first thing that came into her mind.

"Seventh Corridor – I was just on my way to divination." Tara stepped back and realised this boy was wearing Hogwarts robes, his chest bearing the badge of Hufflepuff. She also turned around to see where she had came from, and the mist had disappeared from the floor, as had her body. Light was pouring in from several windows, illuminating the stone walls a brilliant orange colour.

"Sorry! I just had a bit of a strange moment there!" Tara blushed. She needed to go to the headmaster's office before she got into trouble. "I have to go – headmaster wants me, for some reason." She also wanted to go because there was something creepy about the boy, who ws staring at her strangely with piercing grey eyes. She stated to walk away but tripped herself up with her feet. She tumbled over, her books flying everywhere.

"Let me help you up," the boy said.

"No, no," Tara replied, gathering up her books. "I'm fine." She stood up and started to walk away once more. However, before she could get too far, she felt a tugging on her wrist. She turned around to see the strange boy clutching onto her wrist, his face showing an expression of sombre frustration.

"I insist," he said, squeezing Tara's wrist hard.

"Ow! Get off!" Tara protested. "Get –" she was stopped in mid sentence, as the boy wrapped one of his large hands round her mouth, halting her speech.

"Now you listen to me," he said sinisterly. Tara continued to struggle but he shook her, so she stayed still. "You will not interrupt the headmaster: he is much too important for a brat like yourself. Instead, you will do as I say," he drew out his wand and a red sparked flew from the tip into Tara's eyes, which clouded over. "Us Death Eaters don't like to get our hands dirty,m but we do like to see others suffer, anyway, straight to the point, you are angry. With Potter. You must dispose of him," the boy smiled maliciously. "What are you going to do with Potter?"

"Kill him." Tara snapped, her voice mootone and void of any emotion. The boy let go of herand she crumpled to the floor once more. He went down the corridor and disappeared…

* * *

Harry got dressed hurriedly, and ran to the Gryffindor corridor, hoping to get into his dormitory and pretend to be asleep before anyone could notice he was missing. He was running up a staircase to the sixth floor when he heard a voice shouting.

"Move!" it shouted, and with a jolt, he realised it was Tara, presumably on the floor just above him. He ran to go and see what had happened, but some first years warned him not to go up.

"Honestly, she's in a foul mood! She's gonna kill you if you go up there!" Harry snorted with laughter when he realised how serious the first year was being, but when they scurried off, he realised the situation he was in. Tara wasn't going to talk to him. She was on her way to the headmaster's office – he had temporarily forgotten this. That meant she was in daner, so e decided not to go to his dormitory, but to follow her. He reached the floor on which she had been shouted, but had missed her, so he raced up the final staircase to the headmaster's office, taking the steps two at a time.

"Tara!" he called out. She couldn't have heard him because there was no reply. He reached the top of the stair case and found himself on the sixth floor once again. 'This isn't right!' he thought to himself. Once more, he ran up the staircase, and once more he found himself on the sixth floor. Stamping on the stone ground in frustration, an idea popped into his head. He had something in his trunk that would help him. He only hoped that he would be able to get up there, however, as it was also on the seventh floor, only using a different staircase.

He quickly found the staircase and raced up it, and was relived to find that this time, he was actually on the seventh floor. He would've then went to go and find Tara, but this section of the seventh floor was separate to the part she was on, and the looping staircase was the only way to get to it. He entered the common room, annoying the fat lady with his hastiness. He ran up to his dormitory and found everyone still sleeping. Ron let our a loud snore, and sure that no-one would see him, Harry found his secret weapon in his trunk and pocketed it, running back out of the dormitory. He crawled out of the entrance and saw a woman with lank black hair standing in front of him.

"Bellatrix!" She was dressed in a velvet black dress for some reason. "Get out of here!"

"I've just come out of our lovely time room," Bellatrix said, making Harry cringe upon hearing her screeching voice. "I went in there for nine months, to speed up the process, you see, I have modified it, so that the outside world isn't sped up, but time in the room is, so I am now nine months older"

"What do you mean 'process'?" Harry asked, confused. Bellatrix turned round to reveal her bulging stomach.

"You're…you're pregnant?"

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**A/N Sorry for the long wait - I was waiting to get some more reviews, but thanks to those kind people who left comments! I know this chapter is confusing, but if you want anything explained, PM me and I will explain it to you in more depth. However, there are some parts which are strange on purpose. I am sorry if there are any story mistakes with this, for example, things that don't match with the book! Now hit the review button, say something, and make me happy!  
**


	16. Noonerspisms and Shadows

**Chapter 16**

**(A/N From Tara's POV)**

I hear thunder…it is getting closer, and it will soon be upon me. I-I-I……….

* * *

"Tara?" A voice was calling my name. It sounded distant and dreamy, but the person was close by – I could feel pressure on my hand.

"Tara?" The person was now shaking my hand. My eyelids flickered and a blond girl with wide, blue eyes flickered in my field of vision.

"Luna?" I said drearily. She smiled and helped me sit up. My vision unblurred and I saw that I was in the hospital wing, sitting on a crisp, white bed.

"You had quite a fall – you fell down two flights of stairs! I call falls like that noonerspisms..." She said seriously. I wanted to burst out laughing at such a hilarious word, but I was too stiff.

"I wouldn't move too much – you'll probably be a bit sore," Luna said, her childish eyes wandering to the window.

"Where's Madam Pomfrey?"

"She was called to an emergency – Neville got bitten by a venomous tentacula, but he'll be fine." She smiled at the thought, which also struck me as strange – "Something funny?" I asked.

"Sorry – it's just that there is a first year behind those curtains, funny accident," I smiled immediately, and started to gather my things hastily, trying not to make much sound so the first year wouldn't be disturbed.

"I think we should go" I got up and walked briskly to the door out, wobbling a bit on the way. Luna peaked round the curtain and laughed again. She then raced up to me and said "He's covered in pink fur," and burst into a fit of giggles, although I didn't think it was too funny.

"I've got to go see Flitwick about Charms – will you be OK to go back to the common room?"Luna asked, her mind already wandering off.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," She smiled and rand off. "Thanks!" I shouted after her as I saw her dirty-blond hair disappear around the cryptic corner. I wasn't going to go back o my common room – for some reason, I wanted to go and see Harry, even though I hate him for what he did.

I started climbing to the seventh floor, and soon found myself on a deserted corridor on the fourth floor. It was a quick shortcut, but it looked ominous and uninviting: I was certainly not going to go through it, so I turned around to go another way.

Clank.

The door behind me slammed shut with huge force. "Hello?" I shouted, my heart restarting, pumping adrenaline through my tired body. Me hearing heightened, whatever that means, and I decided on impulse to just get through the corridor as quickly as I physically could. I still felt slightly disorientated, but managed to keep my balance with every tottering step I took.

To my left just behind a statue of Barnabas the Troll Slayer, I heard a giggle. Acting once again on impulse, I went to look behind the statue. There was a flurry of brown, bushy hair and a shriek.

"Tara!" Hermione tunred to face me. Behind her, Draco looked averted his gaze.

"Don't worry! I'm going straight away!" I suppressed my giggles and hurried away. Behind me, I heard Hermione and Draco slip through the door which had slammed behind me. It opened for them. I took no notice of them though. In front of me, I was about to exit the corridor, but as I turned the door handle, a horrible clanking sound told me it was locked. No big deal, I thought. I walked to the other door again, and found it locked. My eyes searched the corridor for an alternative way out, but I found nothing. I felt as trickle of sweat trickle down my face. I paced around the corridor, thinking of my predicament, and predictably, my mind soon turned to what could make it worse. I therefore wasn't surprised to hear heavy breathing behind me.

I turned around after groaning, and saw a person steeped in shadows. They raised their arm, but I saw they weren't holding a wand – a sharp, silver tip of cold metal poked out from the shadows, somehow finding some light in the hallowed hall to reflect. Would a wizard really use a knife?

Suddenly, interrupting my thoughts, the person lunged forwards, and I felt the cold blade nick my neck. Crying out in shock, I started running in the opposite direction, but found myself falling, still feeling dizzy from my fall. I almost didn't get up, thinking my attacker would already be on me, but after a nanosecond, I felt no-one, so I stood up. Looking around, I could see no attacker, but there were plenty of shadows to provide cover, so I decided to stay perfectly still. My attacker had to move eventually, and when I heard them, I could shoot a spell at them. Slowly, my hand crept to my wand. When it was out of my pocket, there was an almighty crack, and I felt my wand splinter in my hand, something shooting clean through it. Now I knew that my attacker couldn't be a person of magic, because they would have surely used magic to capture me by now. I knew where they were, but felt helpless: unarmed, unprotected, at the mercy of a muggle-murderer.

"Come out, you coward!" I shouted, but as the attacker lunged out of the shadows oncde again, I shreeked and ran behind the Barnabus statues, and as soon as I was leaning against its marbled esge, the attacker unleashed another shot, shattering one of Barnabus's arms. I was showered by marble debris, and I felt something cold on my head. I immediately snatched it out of the air before the floor could claim it, and I held it close to my eyes. A bullet. A single, black, shiny bullet. I had no more time to ponder the bullet because my attacker was still again: this was when I felt most panicled. In front of me, there were shadows so dark that my vision couldn't penetrate them. That was where my attacker was. I knew it. My eyes widened with fear and my breathing become more rapid before becoming a full blown panic attack. There was a flash of white in the shadow and I moaned, knowing what would come next.

Sure enough, I felt a strong hand close round my neck, fingers like biceps, and I blacked out after hearing my last, choked breath splutter from my bluing lips…

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**A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter: reviews are cherished, loved and replied to! I hope you enjoyed this chapter: I will update soon depending on how many reviews I get and how much homework I have...By the by, I don't endorse violence in any way - I am a pacifist and wouldn't harm a fly. Now, tell me what you think so far: the good, the bad and the ugly: hit the review button!**


	17. Ignorance is Bliss

Chapter 17

Harry ran away from the abandoned corridor, his hand still aching from the effort it had taken to wrap it around her neck, and strangle the last breath from her paling lips. The memory of that very event would haunt him for ever, but it was done. Harry didn't like doing it, but the future of Hogwarts, and everyone in it, was threatened if he didn't.

He wanted to get as far as he could from Tara's cold, lifeless body. He needed to get away from Hogwarts: how would he be able to finish his final year there after what he'd done. A battle raged inside Harry's head between his angel and devil conscience.

"_She's out the way, now, join the Dark Lord and –"_

"_And what? I am against the dark –"_

"_I'm a murderer. I have blood on my hands. I can't turn –"_

"_What if she's not dead? I can revive her if –"_

"_If nothing. I did it."_

Harry was growing dizzy from being overloaded with strange thoughts. He was a murderer, as bad as Voldemort himself. Nothing could stop him from going down the path to darkness – he'd already started, even if the his only murderous motive was because Voldemort had threatened to end Hogwarts and everyone in it…not by killing them immediately…but by torturing them out of their minds with starvation and physical torment. Taking one life in return for preventing the madness and eventual death of hundreds of others must be fair. However, Harry didn't think this. Tara was the only other person whom could truly comprehend what he had gone from, and he'd killed her, disguising himself to carry out this treacherous deed.

"Harry!" a booming voice called from the near distance, snapping Harry out of his thoughts and back into the real world, where he found himself in the Hogwarts grounds, surrounded by phenomenal natural scenery, enveloped in crisp Winter air, every breath condensing to form fascinating smoke patterns in front of his face. "Harry! What're you doing out here?" It was Hagrid, who was now lumbering towards Harry. "It'll be time for dinner now." Harry didn't want to say anything, and a thought entered his head.

"Stupefy!" he whispered, whipping his wand out and flourishing it at the unsuspecting gentle giant. To his surprise, a fantastically strong stunning spell hit Hagrid and knocked him off his feet, leaving him crumpled in a random pile about twenty metres a way. "Sorry Hagrid," Harry muttered, and he set off again, taking himself swiftly into the ever-ambiguous Forbidden Forest. He felt no pleasure in harming Hagrid, but no guilt either.

He entered his forest and felt the crunchy undergrowth snap under his feet with every step he took. A shiver ran down his spine and he could have sworn that someone had breathedon his neck. His senses heightened, and suddenly, he felt ice spread through his veins as the cold night air finally touched him.

"Harry…" A feminine voice emanated through the trees, bringing a soft breeze of absolutely freezing air with it.

"Tara!" Harry shouted. He looked up, as if expecting to see something, but all he saw was the browning tree tops of the forest adorned with the occasional ray of stray sunshine.

"Harry…" The voice whispered his name again, but this time, there was anger in it, and it made the hairs on Harry's neck stand up. His mind suddenly emptied of everything, then it all rushed back just as quick.

"NO! I had to do it!" Harry screamed, his voice bouncing off the empty tree trunks.

"Harry…You…"

"I had too!" Harry broke down. He buried his face in the leaves. He couldn't hear the voice underground, no, he couldn't, so underground he must go, yes, until everything stopped. Nothing was stopping yet. Everything span around, making Harry dizzy, and his futile attempts at digging into the mulchy soil were foiled as he soon fell onto his side and lay motionless. The spinning stopped. Harry's eyes opened and his ears picked up every little sound around him; bird song, centaur hoof-beats, everything.

"Thank you, Harry," a voice said. It was behind him, but he couldn't be bothered to turn his body over to see who was addressing him. "Thank you so very much."

"My pleasure, Voldie!" Harry giggled. He didn't care what anyone thought now, and as it happened, he found Voldemort's new nickname rather hilarious.

"Shut up! Moron!" Voldemort roared, causing great eagles to flutter out f the trees like miniature sparrows. "Now listen here, I am fed up of you!"

"What a co-in-ky-dink! I'm fed up of you too!" Harry said, smiling. He got his wand out of his pocket and started jabbing the air in front of him awkwardly because of his lying-position.

"Such insolence! Well, Potter," Voldemort spat, "This is where it all ends! I am giving you a choice: your baby's life, or Tara's life. I know this won't kill you, but you will go mad knowing you put an end to whoever you didn't'choose, and that will destroy you, for you see, your problem is that you are pathetically weak, and you can't cope with anything simple." Harry snorted, realising Volemort was referring to murder.

"You know, Voldie," Harry said, lifting himself up. The arm he had been laying on had gone numb. "I have another choice."

"Yes?" Voldemort mocked, raising one eyebrow.

"This," Harry said. He pointed his wand to his head. Voldemort's eyes widened when he realised what Harry was planning to do, but before he could prevent him, Harry muttered "Avada Kedava."…

**

* * *

(A/N To give you an idea how Harry feels in this section, please go onto youtube and play the song "Brandy Alexander" by Feist whilst you read this.)**

Jubilation…

Relaxation…

Peacefulness…

Harry felt nothing but pleasure. Every negative thought had been rung out of his body, and he was floating to a happy place, as cliché as that may sound.

He stopped floating and landed on a fluffy cloud. His grimy road suddenly became spotlessly white, and a wave of warmth swept over him. He wandered to the edge of his cloud and peered over. Below, he could see a grey castle with a bush of think growth near it: the Forbidden Forest, in which a pinprick of green light flashed. Seeing this light gave Harry a feeling of deja-vu, but this was over shadowed by relaxation. Harry let himself sink to the floor where he rested, looking up into the perfect, blue sky, illuminated by brilliant sunlight. Nothing could disturb Harry: he was in an orb of nothingness, and nothingess meant ignorance of everything bad, which meant happiness, at last. Harry felt the need to stand up, although it wasn't a pressing need, and he did so, to see another cloud coming towards his own.

It arrived. Tara stepped off it and smiled. Harry smiled back. They held hands and layed next to each other, staring up. Elation. Everything was perfect. It was perfectly warm, the sky was perfect. Everything was _too_ perfect. He turned around and saw Tara, but she no longer looked perfect as she had done. Her face was an ugly blue colour, and there were white pressure marks on her neck. She turned to face him and whispered "_Ignorance is bliss_."

'She's right,' thought Harry. 'None of this is real.' With that, Harry woke up, and felt a drip of water land on his face. **(A/N Stop the music!)** He looked up and saw the forbidden forest, framed with dirt. He looked to the sides of him an saw more dirt: walls of mulchy earth. He was in a shallow grave…

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**A/N I hope you liked that and found it really confusing, because I find it very confusing...anyway, all will be explained in the next chapter: what happened when Harry used the killing curse? Did it actually happen? What will Voldemort do to the baby? What will happen to Tara? Everything will be answered in the coming chapters - the end is drawing near! A huge thank you to all those special individuals who very kindly reviewed, and an apology for taking so long to update. If I get more reviews, I will update quicker! Bye for now...**


	18. My Piece of Heaven

**Chapter 18**

Tara watched the flawed world below her from her untouchable cloud. Did she know she was dead? Probably. But she certainly didn't show any sadness ,over it, because on her cloud, sadness didn't exist – it was merely a myth, like anger and jealousy. Death was a thought in the back of her mind, and every time someone died on Earth, a green light erupted soundlessly from their body, rising until it hit the sky, where it would reform as the person it came from and they would have their very own cloud.

By looking over the edge, Tara had a view of the Earth, and despite being so high up, she could see everything perfectly. When she first looked over, she found a vast desert staring back at her, and the vast orange expanse stretched to the horizons. Without panicking, Tara thought of Hogwarts, and when she opened her eyes, she found herself above it. It was Winter, because there was snow blanketing the hardened ground, however, the sky was luminous blue and the sun way shining gently, which made Tara sure her cloud would be the only one for miles.

Time seemed to speed by at Hogwarts, although it took an age for night to arrive. When the darkness was dawning, a lone figure appeared on the front lawn. It was Harry. A wave of happiness swept through Tara's body – she was unaware that Harry was her murderer. He kept walking across the grounds until he reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest near Hagrid's hut. Tara watched wordlessly as Harry attacked Hagrid, however she couldn't show her shock – her body rejected this feeling.

Harry was enveloped by the forest and Tara lost sight of him. On impulse, she pulled herself up and looked upwards. Below her, it was night but here the sky was still alight with intense, glorious light. She looked around, feeling elated, and from her left, she could see another cloud floating almost meaninglessly towards her. It eventually reached her and she saw a purple book, untitled, with golden pages, each as thin as a hair but as soft as cashmere. She picked the book up and sat down. The other cloud didn't float away but rather melted into her own, expanding its area ever so slightly.

She opened the book and found herself looking at pages of statistics about herself: height on every day of her life, belief in god, number of spells learnt, even the number of times she had sworn (946, in case you were wondering, which was 945 too many times in her opinion, as the only time she felt it was justified was when she left Bellatrix). She flicked through it and found more interesting statistics – she had slept for over the equivalent on 7 years, she had written 4,678,012 words on 200,233 pieces of parchment, she had eaten over 80 tonnes of food. She giggled at that last one, thinking about the amount that would be in a pile. She flicked right through to the back page, where another stat written in spiky, black ink adorned the entire page. The ink was still fresh and glistening, but it wouldn't smudge. "Cause of Death: Strangled" Tara didn't remember how she had died She read this over again thoughtfully, and started to close the book, however, some tiny font as the bottom of the page caught her eye: "Murderer: H. J. Potter." She wanted to feel shocked, but she couldn't. Rather than feeling anything, her body became void of all emotions, and she layed down. Soon, she was aware of a presence next to her…

"Tara," a voice in her mind whispered. The person next to her was communicating with her telepathicaly. "I'm sorry," it said, and Tara knew it was Harry.

"Get off my cloud, please," she thought, although no matter how hard she tried to make it sound threatening, it sounded slightly cheerful – the whole situation was quite funny. She didn't feel Harry's presence leave, so without thought, she lashed out, and instantly, his presence evaporated, falling back down to the hell he had come from.

She peered over the edge and saw a small, black hole in a clearing in the forest. It was uninteresting to her, though, and she turned to look at the castle. Something in one of the tower windows caught her eyes. It was a solitary lit window, and the light in it was flickering as though from a candle. Tara couldn't see into this room clearly, and as though it was part of her, her cloud drifted closer to the window until it was only a few feet away. A thin vale of transparent violet formed a dome over Tara and her cloud. She guessed this would make it invisible.

Inside the room, Voldemort stood by a bed, his eyes glinting and his mouth twisted into a malicious smile, and his spindly hand rested on the very pregnant stomach of one Bellatrix Lestrange. Her hair was stuck to her head with sweat, and she was breathing heavily. She was giving birth. Every now and then, Bellatrix would scream and stop suddenly to draw quick breaths from the thinning air.

"Keep going, you stupid woman!" Voldemort spat. Belatrix went to slap him but her hand stopped short of his face, and with a flick of his wand, Voldemort made it slap her own face. She screamed again, a heavy red mark appearing on her cheek. Only Voldemort could be mean to a woman giving birth, Tara thought, but at least after this, Bellatrix will realise he only uses her.

Voldemort went to lift the filthy bed covers up and Tara looked away: she was sure this cold make her sick even in heaven! She heard crying and looked back.

"Excellent!" Voldemort crowed, holding the naked baby in his anorexic arms. "A boy!" For a moment, Tara was sure that she spotted a fleeting look of happiness on her mother's face, but it quickly resumed its normal wicked look.

"Let me see it!" Bellatrix said, desperate to hold her child although she hid this well. Voldemort turned his back to her and Tara saw the baby's face. It already had jet black hair and looked unmistakably like Harry. This was new information to Tara , but she wouldn't have been shocked if she could've been after what happened. By this time, Bellatrix was trying to stand up, however, Voldemort spun around and saw her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Voldemort asked. Bellatrix offered no reply and continued getting up. "Stop at once!" He roared. Strangely, the baby giggled rather than cries. Bellatrix was now standing up and was looking at Voldemort defiantly. Voldemort sighed, and said "You have been o f great use to me, Bella, but you have served your pitiful purpose." Bellatrix's eyes widened, and before she could shout "No!", Voldemort hit her with a killing curse. Tara watched with mild surprise as a red light erupted out of Bellatrix's twitching corpse and shot through the floor, to hell…

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**A/N I thought it would be useful to get some of Tara's perspective, and I have the ending all planned out...Thanks you very much to everyone who has helped me to reach 100 reviews! Your comments mean a lot to me, and please tell me what you think of this chapter. Thanks again!**

**P.S. Sorry to my alerters for the repeat alerts: I uploaded it and my computer crashed, so it counted and didn't count sometimes, so I've had to do it again!  
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	19. The Thrill of the Chase

**A/N As a Christmas treat, I have written this chapter early, and made it twice as long as a normal chapter. However, I must ask that you read this in silence, as it will make it more tense and exciting...hopefully...enjoy!**

**P.S. To my alerters: My computer rejected my earlier upload of chapter 19! So I apologise profusely if you have got repeat alerts. I am fixing this problem as we speak, mainly by getting a new wireless connection.  
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**Chapter 19**

Harry had given up trying to get out of his grave – it seemed that every time he attempted to scale the muddy walls, the bottom of the grave sunk further into the ground. By this time, it had started raining, actually, it was pouring , and the ground was steadily becoming waterlogged, and the water level was slowly raising. Harry's cheap shoes were ruined, and his cloak acted like a sponge, absorbing water and making the rest of his clothes sodden.

"I'm going to die in a watery grave," Harry thought. He laughed inwardly – the perfect end to his life. He decided to lay down and accept his fate – there was no way of getting out: he had no wand, and had no other way of controlling magic and no way of scaling the water-walls.

"Harry," someone said as Harry was nearly fully laying down. "Up here, you insolent-"

"What?!" Harry shouted. He stood up an saw Voldemort peering over the edge of the hole, an expression of mild amusement adorning his otherwise lifeless face.

"Let me help you," he said. He reached out with one of this arms and it extended magically. "It shouldn't bite – I am keeping my mouths shut," Voldemort said, grinning. As it was Harry's only option, other than die, he reached out with his own arm and gripped onto Voldemort's. A severe pain soared through his body as he made contact with the dry, leathery skin, but he refused to let go – instead, he gritted his teeth to the point where they were almost cracking and he squeezed Voldemort's arm as hard as he could. Before he knew it, Voldemort had placed him on land. The pain evaporated and Harry opened his eyes to see that he had bruised Voldemort's arms. A thought crossed his mind.

"Why did you just save me?"

"Why, Harry," Voldemort said with a patronising manner, "it would be such a weak way for me to kill you, quite simply, and I have much better things planned – you underestimate my extravagance!" He laughed heartily, rain dripping down his ghostly face and into his cavernous mouth. Harry back away slightly.

"Pertrificus Totalis!" Voldemort shouted suddenly. Harry froze. The only movement in his body came from his expanding ribcage, graciously allowing his lungs to work.

"Did you honestly think you could get away that easily?" Yes was the honest answer – everything that had happened – the aging room, the pregnancy, the murder… - seemed so surreal to Harry that he felt like he was acting a part in a dream, not an unsung hero destined for doom, but more of a character without a purpose except to be tortured.

"Never mind," Voldemort said. He walked up to the frozen Harry and touched his shoulder. A veil of dark light erupted over them like pain erupted once again through Harry's body, and when it disappeared, they were standing in the principal's office.

"Listen up, Potter," Voldemort snarled. Harry was still frozen, so he had no choice. "You have a choice, well actually, if you don't take my offering, you will die, but still, it is an option. I will let you free and you will be able to escape." Harry tried to look sceptical, but due to his current position, he remained the same. Voldemort wouldn't just let him escape, not without obstacles…

"I know you are just bursting with questions, but I am bored and shan't answer them," Voldemort said, revealing his disposition to be both that of a giddy school girl and a spoilt schoolboy, "So rather simply, when I unfreeze you, you may go." Voldemort touched Harry. He moved and turned around. "Go!" Voldemort whispered sarcastically. So Harry turned to face him.

"Avada Kedava!" Harry shouted, expecting an explosion, but his wand let out a weak whistle and a single green spark. Naturally, Voldemort nearly wet himself with laughter.

"Negation – I've made it so that you can't use that curse in the school grounds." Harry would've questioned how that could happen, and just before he left the room, Harry grabbed a glass orb hanging low from the ceiling as tossed it at Voldemort. Harry fled before he could see Voldemort's reaction, but when he hear him shout a loud swearword, he knew the orb had been on target.

"Which way?" Harry said out loud to himself. He had just raced down the spiral from Voldemort's office. To his left and right stretch dark lengths of corridor, neither appearing to have an end. He heard a sound from his right so instinctively, he ran to his left.

About halfway down the corridor, there was a wide window, letting moonlight pour through. Harry could see the courtyard outside, and too his shock, his mother walking across it!

"Mum!" he shouted, trying to warn her to get away quickly. She looked up at him, and although Harry was on the seventh floor, her could see that her eyes were glowing red. She drew her wand and wordlessly sent a stunning spell at him. Harry spun out of the way quickly, and the window smashed, each fragment of glass reflecting moonlight still.

Harry swore under hims breath, but managed to gather enough courage to peer out of the hole in the wall. Lily was no longer in the courtyard, and Harry guessed that she must have entered the building.

"Harry!" a girl's voice suddenly shouted. Harry saw a tallish girl with almost white hair running towards him.

"Luna!" Harry suddenly felt relieved to remind him that he could have help.

"Harry! What're you-"

"Luna, you've got to listen." Luna stopped talking and stopped running, stopping a few feet short of Harry. "Go back to your common room. Gather people in one room, maybe a dormitory and tell them to keep quiet and not to panic – I don't have time to tell you what's going on." Luna nodded, repressing her questions. "Go quickly, and be careful – tell anyone that you meet to do the same." Luna turned away to leave, but spun back around and kissed Harry. She broke away quickly and disappeared into the darkness.

Harry followed the path she had taken, but didn't go so quickly – he didn't want to catch up with Luna and attract trouble to her, after all, if there was anyone out there, they would be after him. He reached a staircase, and to his amazement, it went down two floors! He was now on the fifth floor, and was yet to be attacked.

He crept across the fifth floor so unsuccessfully that he would have attacked himself if that was his target.

No-one. There was no-one on the fifth floor! Harry found another staircase and practically skipped down it in happiness. That was his biggest mistake yet. Someone heard him and shuffled heavily towards them, but his loud footsteps masked their movement.

"Lumos!" Harry said. He didn't have his wand with him, but on impulse, he said this, and something started glowing about three feet to his right. He grinned, thinking he had found his wand. Reaching out, he tried to grab it, but as he wrapped his hand round it, it became white hot.

Harry screamed. He tried to let go, but his hand was stuck. The light was shining through his hand and he could see his skin erupting in a sea of scarlet blisters. His screams echoed off the walls, but he couldn't stop himself, blinded by hurt.

The light died. Harry let go. Instinctively, he went to cradle his poor hand, but upon contact, the burning sensation was reignited. It died away quickly and Harry noticed the wand had lit up again. He stood up – he had fallen backwards when released by the wand – and found himself staring at his mum's face, illuminated eerily by the magic, emerald light. There was still something unnatural about her eyes.

"Avada-" she said, in a robotic monotone voice, "Kedava." She said it without expression and Harry just about avoided the green jet. Voldemort had pitted his mother against him, but he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of fighting her. Instead, he was going to run.

Lily was caught unawares by Harry suddenly scarpering, and due to her trance-like state, she couldn't run after him, rather walk quickly, but she knew where he was heading.

Harry needed to hide, so her dived into the first room her came across, bolting the door behind him. He slumped against it, breathing heavily. After several moments of quick recuperation, he stood up and noticed that someone must have know he would come to this room, because the candles were lit. A bed was placed in the centre, however, it was dirty, and Harry had no desire to lay in it despite his aching tiredness. It also suddenly dawned on Harry how eerily quiet it was, and as his ears because adapted to the silence, he became aware of a crawling sound, making him thing that he had worms in his shoes, eating away at his feet. He slapped his shoes off, trying not to cry out, and his irrational fear transpired to be false. However, there still was a crawling sound.

Harry walked to the other side of the room and nearly fainted with disgust at what greeted him. Bellatrix, dead, laying eagle-sprawled on the clod marble floor. Her cold face was twisted into what was her last, evil smile, and her eyes were open wide, although they showed no signs of life. This would have made Harry sick by itself, but her body was covered in worms, slithering over her deathly face, and her flat belly. Wait. Bellatrix was pregnant. Harry sighed with exasperation: she must've given birth before dying, but there was no sign of his and hers child.

Suddenly, he didn't care what he would have to face when he got out of the room. He bolted to the door and opened it, slamming it shut after him. He was propelled outside, so fast that he slammed into another person. Getting to his face, afraid that it may be another attacker, Harry steadied himself and arranged himself to be in a sort of karate position. The person he had knocked over snorted with laughter.

"Is that really going to be useful against a wizard?" It was the voice of a young boy. Harry wasn't listening to him though, as he could hear heavy footsteps. They stopped, close to wear they were standing. "Are you listening to me?" the little boy insisted.

"Shh!" Harry said. He fell silent and there were several tense moments where nothing could be heard.

Harry had been expecting what happened next.

A wand lit up. Lily's expressionless face became visible, as did the little boy's. Harry stared at him and realised he could be looking at a mirror version of his younger self. Lily didn't pause, and shot a cure at the boy. Harry stood back, shocked, but a sharp pain in his side ended his shock, tiredness and everything else…

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**A/N I hope you get who the little boy is - if not, I won't tell you :P I really hope you enjoyed that, because this is my favourite kind of writing - suspense, horror, thriller, I just thrive on it. Anyway, please review!**


	20. My Quest

Chapter 20

Harry was aware of a strong burning smell when he finally awoke, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting up in a dimly lit room. He reached out automatically for his glasses, and found them, lying on an ancient brown-dyed table. He sat up and looked at his surroundings: a candle was burning feebly in a holder set on a stone wall, and there was a curtain sealing Harry off from the rest of the room. At first, he thought he was in the hospital wing, but Luna entered and Harry caught a glimpse of outside: there were lots of people and with Luna, a smell of mulled wine drifted in, making Harry thirsty.

"Here," said Luna, handing him a cup. Harry didn't think that after doing whatever he was doing drinking alcohol was a good idea, but he didn't really care so he drank heavily. He drained the cup and his senses were soon dulled.

"Are you wondering what you're doing here?" Luna asked. Harry wasn't.

"You," Harry started saying, pointing at Luna randomly, "are drunk!" Harry saw his empty cup and his wand laying next to it – that was where it was hiding! He grabbed both and refilled his cup with more warm liquid.

"Quite not really," Luna said. She hiccuped and laughed, snorting sporadically. She suddenly stopped and looked at Harry seriously. Harry looked back at her. He had a sudden jabbing pain sweep through his body, but he ignored it: electricity from the moment, he thought. Luna started to lean towards him, and he leaned towards her.

Stop.

Harry came crashing back to reality abruptly, and opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by dark. Something was on his hand, crushing it, but it was so numb he couldn't move it away. He tried to shout, but his throat was too dry to let him speak. He knew what was happening. Lily. His own mother, possessed, presumably, was attacking him, and Harry had just seen his son, whom Voldemort had aged in an alternative universe, contained within a Hogwarts room.

"Father," the boy said hoarsely – he was laying close to Harry, who ddn't respond because he wasn't used to being called Father – he hadn't expected his child to speak for at least another year!

"Silence," a monotonous voice said. A wand lit up and Lily's face became visible once more. Harry saw she was standing on his hand, and the little boy – his son – was laying a few feet away, blood seeping from his jet-black hairline. He was still awake, though, and he was mouthing something. Harry thought he saw his lips form the word 'wand'.

"Master," Lily said. She was looking upwards and rolled up the sleeve on her left arm. Harry moaned softly when he saw he press the tip of her wand to it – she must have the dark mark, he thought. Harry averted his gaze back to the boy, who was gesturing for them to get up. Harry nodded, and concentrated on making his injured body get up and move again. It worked, and Harry was soon on his feet, although he didn't feel he'd be able to stand up much longer. Lily looked at him as the little boy also got up, murder flashing furiously in her once gentle eyes.

"Run!" shouted Harry, finding his voice finally. They both did, and Lily started to follow using her own robotic way of walking. They kept running, occasionally looking at each other. Harry smiled as he saw how much they looked a like and how little he looked like Bellatrix, although like her and Voldemort, he was deathly pale.

"Stop! I'm gonna collapse!" he shouted. Harry stopped and found him clutching his side, breathing heavily. "Sorry – I'm fine now!" He looked eager to keep going, but he was hiding his fatigue. Harry said nothing whilst they both rested.

"Do you have a name?" Harry asked, needing to break the awkward silence.

"No," the boy lied. Voldemort had named him Lord, but he hated it, and knew Voldemort wasn't his real father. However, he didn't know that Voldemort was evil, and was probably behind his grandmother's strange behaviour.

"What do I call you then?" A thought came to the boy's mind.

"Quest," he said, dignified. There was much Harry wanted to ask him, but he decided to say only a few things. "I know what the time warp room does. Voldemort took me there because I was sick, and he raised me, but you are my real father. My Mother is dead." Harry nodded. However, there was one unanswered question: when Harry and Tara had last gone in the time-warp room, time outside the room had also sped up, but why hadn't it when Quest went in there? He was sure Quest wouldn't know, so he left it unasked. Down the corridor they were on, a green light was becoming more and more vivid, and Lily's robotic footsteps were becoming more audible.

"Quest," Harry said, smiling slightly at the strange name, "We need to keep going. Look, there's a secret room that I think we'll be safe in." He was thinking of the room of requirement. Quest nodded and they carried on. They soon reached it, and with a slight shiver, Harry realised it was here, behind the statue guarding the room of requirement, that he had murdered Tara. Shaking the memory off, Harry set to walking past the entrance 3 times, each time thinking "I need a place where I won't be found by anyone else." To his immense relief, an intricate door appeared, melting from the stone, and Harry ushered Quest inside, just as Lily reached the statue.

"Shh!" Harry said, seeing Quest was about to speak. "Just in case she can hear us!" Quest nodded and looked around. The room was mostly dark, ecept for some shimmering gold light in a corner of the room. There was a body in the light, unmoving. Harry walked up to it, telling quest to stay where he was.

"Hello?" Harry said. He got closer to the body and saw it had short, blond, greasy hair, and very pale skin. Draco Malfoy. "Draco!" Draco snorted – he wasn't dead, just asleep! Harry slapped him playfully around the head, and he snorted again, without waking.

"Harry!" Harry spun round to see Hermione coming out from the semi-darkness. She was wearing a pink. Fluffy dressing gown. "I can explain!" Harry knew what was happening – he had already seen them in the quidditch dressing room, after all! "We have been hiding out here because I know the headmaster is really Voldemort. We tried to tell other people, but no one can do anything about it. What are you doing here?"

"Nothing – stay out of my business and I'll stay out of yours." Harry saw Hermione was hurt. " Sorry – I'm being chased, but you stay in here and keep safe – I don't want you getting hurt." Hermione opened her mouth to retort but saw Harry was being deadly serious, so she just nodded, a tear glistening in her eye.

"Good luck Harry," she said, and pulled him into a hug. Harry broke away and walked back to Quest, who was hunched against the door, out of sight.

"Quest –we have to get out of here."

"I agree – we need to get out of Hogwarts."

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, father." With that, they burst out of the room. Lily immediately bombarded them with a wealth of inaccurate spells. Harry shouted "Protegio!" and Lily was pushed away, She landed in a crumpled position, her limbs touching. Harry feared she was dead. He walked towards her, prepared to back away if he should need to. He reached her and she sat up. He jumped away.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" she asked. Her forehead was purple with bruising, but Harry thought she was OK. He explained that they were in Hogwarts, and needed to get out, adding that he would answer her questions when they were out. She understood, and they started running, flying down staircases. Soon enough, they reached the entrance hall.

Quest suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, sounding out of breath.

"My heart," he said. Harry understood: he said he was sick at birth; he must have a heart problem.

"Are you O-" he was interrupted when Quest collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Lily cried out and rushed over to him. Harry started to rush to him, but a jet of hot, white light knocked him off his feet.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" Harry groaned as he recognised the voice of his crazed ex-girlfriend, Cho. He stood up.

"What's wrong, Cho?" He said, condescendingly.

"I'm here to kill you, Harry, _Avada Kedava_!"

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**A/N Not much revealed in that chapter as to Harry's fate yet...What do you think about Quest, Hermione and Draco, Lily, and Cho? Please review and tell me all your thoughts - thanks to everyone who reviewed last time - you are all my inspiration! That chapter took ages to write and I have rewritten it about 3 times, because I couldn't decide what should happen. More about Quest's past will be revealed, but he's in jeopardy! Peace out, and Merry Christmas!**


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